Even if the roll-out of the official curriculum is delayed, now is the time to get cracking

During his State of the Nation Address in February 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned the roll-out of coding and robotics in primary schools. The final curriculums for foundation, intermediate and senior phases were finally gazetted earlier in 2024.

The original plan announced then was to roll out the foundation phase in 2025, with other grades from 2026 onwards. Most people do not think there will be any official roll-out next year.

I am concerned that some schools have adopted a wait-and-see approach to the curriculum roll-out. While they may have valid reasons for this stance, I believe proactive preparation would be more effective.

My personal interest and experience in this topic began in 2017, when we started the Tangible Africa movement. Using unplugged and tangible coding, we set out to introduce pupils to coding concepts without the need for computer labs, electricity, internet or any previous coding experience.

Since 2022, Tangible Africa has partnered with the South African Democratic Teachers Union, the South African Teachers' Union and the National Teachers' Union as part of the Department of Basic Education's Teacher Union Collaboration project, aimed at preparing teachers...