Keir Starmer unveils plan to help one million schoolkids in major tech drive
The Prime Minister will announce plans to help around one million school-age children gain skills in technology under a new TechFirst scheme to help them learn AI and computing skills
Youngsters will be able to access more job opportunities in tech under a major drive to skill up Britain.
The PM will announce plans to help around one million school-age children gain skills in technology under a new TechFirst scheme. It will help to prepare kids should they want to become AI engineers, computer scientists or data analysts in the future.
TechFirst, whose name is inspired by the teaching training programme Teach First, will be backed by £187million of government money. Some £24million will go to school-aged children, while just over £90m will pay for 1,000 undergraduate and masters scholarships to university.
It means some young people will have the opportunity to attend university for free for courses including AI, cybersecurity and computer science. Nearly £50million will go towards PhD students.
Mr Starmer said: 'We are putting the power of AI into the hands of the next generation – so they can shape the future, not be shaped by it.
'This training programme will unlock opportunity in every classroom – and lays the foundations for a new era of growth. Too many children from working families like the one I grew up in are written off. I am determined to end that. "
Under TechFirst, school kids will likely go on trips to universities or tech companies, where they can learn technical skills such as programming robots. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, who has previously described feeling embarrassed at school due to his dyslexia, said opening up doors for kids by helping them gain the skills they need is 'personal for me'.
Speaking on a visit to a cyber training scheme for kids in Manchester, he told The Mirror: 'As somebody who has a neurological barrier to learning, I can see how many of the young people who I'm meeting today are flourishing in this new environment.
'They're embracing the technology which is helping them succeed academically, but also finding those personal characteristics which in traditional times gone past have been suppressed, ignored or looked down on.
'They are now finding a way to be rewarded and celebrated. For me, that is actually quite emotional to see.'
Mr Kyle said the economy is 'shifting towards a demand for digitally-enabled skills'.
He said technology is no longer a subject of its own but is embraced by all areas, such as being a tool to help kids learn maths or using AI to analyse sports performance in PE lessons.
He said his aim wasn't for all kids to work in tech but for technology to be able to 'unlock' opportunities for young people. I want one thing for young people to believe, and that's whatever their potential is, they can achieve it,' he said.
'I think the thing I hope most for young people is that they discover and have the opportunity to figure out what that is.' As part of the Government's drive to skill up the country, big tech companies have agreed to make their internal training resources publicly available for free.
The firms involved include Microsoft, Google, BA Systems and Barclays. It is hoped the move will give 7.5million workers - a fifth of the working-age population - the tech skills they need by 2030.
The Government is understood to believe it has 'talked the talk' long enough on tech and now must deliver in skilling up the nation in areas such as coding or cybersecurity. It is hoped this will help to fill gaping skills in the workforce, including engineers and data scientists.
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