Strengthen students’ digital skills and accelerate the use of IT tools at school, college and high school. This is the wish of Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of Education, who presented measures in this direction this Friday. To develop this strategy for digital, all middle school students, and a majority of students in elementary school and high school, will have to benefit each year from now to 2027 from a media and digital education action. (EMI), by participating in the week of the press, a web radio or workshops on the media.
In addition, to strengthen the “digital skills” of students in middle school, all students in the 6th grade should be made aware of the proper use of digital tools and social networks, and the risks associated with the latter. A digital awareness certificate in 6e (Pix 6e) will be generalized at the start of the 2024 school year, with a stage dedicated to cybersecurity and the prevention of cyberbullying.
Strengthening digital skills will also be one of the priorities in 5th, 4th and 3rd grades, with the aim of enabling students to understand and know how to use digital tools (algorithms, artificial intelligence, programming, etc.) and to have first coding skills, from the start of the 2024 school year, promises the ministry.
Discover digital professions
The discovery of trades, from 5th to 3rd, will, for its part, give a special place to digital professions and the transformation of other sectors under the effect of digital technology. In the general and technological high school, the minister wants to make training leading to digital studies or jobs more attractive. He wants to strive for parity in these formations, where girls are under-represented. To this end, actions will be taken to promote science and digital technology. Finally, at the vocational school, the objective will be to accelerate the creation and modernization of diplomas such as the new “cybersecurity, IT and electronic networks” baccalaureate. And the redesign of the training map.
A process will also be carried out to facilitate access to digital tools and resources for teachers, and to better train and support them. The new trainee teachers will in particular pass a certification of their digital skills and will be offered training if they do not have the required level.