Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has called on the Department of Education to include teaching code, also known as computer programming, in the K-12 program, especially in elementary schools.
Currently, computer programming is offered only as an option in senior high school, under the Information and Communications Technology strand of the Technical Vocational Track.
“Coding is now an essential skill due to the prevalence of computers in our daily lives. It should be treated like reading, writing, and arithmetic, not just as a career option,” said Pimentel.
Pimentel, who graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in B.S. Mathematics, said that coding is a way to introduce concepts such as logic and mathematics to children.
“By teaching code, we can take advantage of children’s fascination with technology to help them learn mathematical concepts in a manner they find entertaining,” Pimentel said.
“Coding also teaches perseverance and problem-solving. In writing a computer program, you have to be adept at breaking down tasks into simple problems the computer could understand. You also need to be patient to identify and correct bugs in the code. These are life skills that would benefit anyone in any field, ” he added.
A former professor, Pimentel also sees teaching code as a way to help improve the performance of Philippine schools in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM.
Pimentel said, “Teaching code in schools should not be difficult. We don’t need state-of-the-art computers to learn the basics. We can use open-source software such as Linux to keep costs down. Also, since many Filipinos own a smartphone and we now have the free wi-fi law, it is easy to download many apps that will help children learn more about programming.”
As this developed, Senator Bam Aquino urged the government to ensure that financial assistance for the poor through the cash transfer program is implemented by the time the tax reform program is rolled out.
Aquino was referring to the financial assistance that will be given to poor Filipino families to help them absorb the brunt of the effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) once it is enacted into law and implemented in January 2018.
Under the Senate version of financial assistance, poor families will be given P300 a month for three years.
During the period of amendments, Aquino worked for the retention of the financial assistance program in the Senate version of the measure and pushed for its implementation on January 2018 to help the poor Filipinos bear the brunt of the expected increase in prices of basic commodities and services.
However, the Department of Finance (DOF) said it cannot implement the cash transfer program and the TRAIN at once but will try to do so.
Even the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) stated that they cannot roll out the cash transfer program in January 2018, as they still need to finalize the database of families, among other preparations.
Aside from the financial assistance, Sen. Bam pushed for the amendment to exempt micro-enterprises from paying the 3% percentage tax, on top of their income tax exemption.
With Aquino’s amendment, micro-entrepreneurs like sari-sari stores, vendors, and farmers would enjoy tax-free status and be spared from harassment by tax agents. The senator also proposed to simplify bookkeeping records and requirements for micro businesses. Aquino said the amendments would come at no additional cost to the government.