VILNIUS, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Teaching of informatics for elementary class schoolchildren will be introduced in around 100 Lithuanian schools as of start of the new school year this September, Grazvydas Kazakevicius, Lithuania's deputy minister of education and science, said on Monday.
The future ambition is to introduce the teaching of computer science in all schools at primary educational stage, according to the official.
"It is important to know how to responsibly, meaningfully use information technologies and how to be safe in electronic environment, therefore these skills must be fostered at a young age," Kazakevicius was quoted as saying in a statement released by his ministry.
According to the minister, some of Lithuanian primary schools have already started to implement teaching of information technologies. It was decided to implement such a practice on a wider scale, Kazakevicius said.
Teaching of informatics at the primary educational grade will be integrated with other lessons, such as mathematics or others, the ministry said. It is planned to introduce teaching of computer basics in all Lithuanian schools' elementary grade as of 2020-2021.
Currently Lithuanian schoolchildren start to study informatics as a separate discipline in their fifth school year.
According to the Employment Barometer 2018 composed by Lithuania's Labour Exchange authority, IT and computer specialists are among professions that have the highest employment opportunities in the country.
