Programming, the gateway to the future

We are entering a new world. A different world, where everything happens much faster, where everything is subject to change. A world that offers endless possibilities, but that will also change things that we believed were unchallengeable.

This world demands new knowledge. It demands that we broaden our horizons, that we widen our perspective. That we open our minds to understand it, to adapt it and to make it human. That is the purpose of education.

Rethinking education and training teachers in the new methodologies to help them feel comfortable with technology, will enable young people to acquire digital skills that are key nowadays. One of them is programming, which is now as important and necessary as speaking other languages.

Not so long ago, we began to understand that English was crucial for our professional development and started our training to speak it fluently. Today, no one questions its importance, and it is a fundamental tool for working and moving around the world. In the future, we will speak in the same terms about digital skills and programming, because those who excel in them will have access to all opportunities.

Joining forces in such an important global project as CODE.ORG. reinforces Telefónica and Fundación Telefónica’s commitment to promote inclusive and fair digitization. This new step will allow us to continue promoting programming in Spain and Europe.

Code.org founder Hadi Partovi states that programming enhances ‘superpowers’. Those that allow anyone, whoever and wherever they are, to create a new platform that transforms conventional business models, impacting millions of people around the world.  

Children who learn programming today will find it easier to become technological professionals in the future. By learning not only how to use technology but how to create it, students can better understand how the world works. Computer sciences also teaches other skills such as mathematics, problem-solving, creativity or critical thinking.  Key skills that are in high demand in today's world of work and will be even more so in the future.

Programming is already one of the most demanded capabilities. We are witnessing a supply and demand deficit in the labour market and many job opportunities in the science and technology fields are not being met today.

For that reason, at Telefónica we aim to promote new models, such as 42, a campus where students not only share the drive for programming and computer science, but also "learn to learn" and where teamwork, effort and perseverance prevail.

CODE.ORG will complement what we do, with the fundamental and transformative objective of sensitizing teachers and families about the importance of programming and starting from an early age.

Technology is changing everything, and this calls for humanity not to get lost in the process. It is people that give purpose to technology and not the other way around. Technology enables CODE.ORG and Fundación Telefónica to empower new generations of students in Europe through computer science. These types of initiatives enhance Telefónica’s mission: to make our world more human, by connecting lives.