Amazon to fund computer courses in more than 1,000 US high schools | Chain Store Age



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Amazon is investing in the next generation of computer scientists.

The online giant announced that it was going to fund full year computer courses in high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia, thus affecting tens of thousands of students. students from underprivileged, under-represented or under-served communities. Out of more than 1,000 participating secondary schools, more than 700 are clbadified in Title I The initiative is funded by Amazon's Future Engineer program.

High schools will offer introductory computer and computer courses through the Edhesive course provider. Amazon's funding includes preparatory courses, tutorials, professional development for teachers, a fully sequenced and paced digital program for students, as well as live online support every day of the week for teachers and students. All students participating in this program will receive a subscription to AWS Educate, which will give them free access to the computing power of the AWS cloud for their coding projects and content to deepen their knowledge of cloud computing.

"We want to ensure that every child, especially those from disadvantaged communities, has the opportunity to study computer science," said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon, global consumer. "We are delighted that more than 1,000 schools are now offering these courses and hope to add 1,000 more in the coming months."

Launched in November, the Amazon Future Engineer is a four-step program designed to inspire, educate and prepare children and young adults from disadvantaged, under-represented and under-served communities to careers in Canada's burgeoning industry. 39; computer. . The program aims to inspire more than 10 million children to explore computer science; provide more than 100,000 young people from over 2,000 high schools with access to AP introductory or computer courses; awarding 100 students $ 10,000 scholarships over four years, as well as guaranteed and paid Amazon internships, allowing them to gain work experience. In addition, Amazon Future Engineer has donated more than $ 10 million to organizations that promote computer / STEM education across the country.

When announcing the new high school initiative, Amazon cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which predicts that by 2020 there will be 1.4 million job related jobs. 39, but only 400,000 computer science graduates with the necessary skills to apply for these jobs. Computer science is the fastest growing occupation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but only 8% of STEM graduates earn a degree in computer science. IT, with a tiny minority of disadvantaged backgrounds. Students from underprivileged backgrounds are eight to ten times more likely to obtain a university degree in computer science if they followed AP computer science in high school, Amazon said.

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