Education and Science, Estonia, Technology, Telecomunications

In some countries, computer programming might be seen as the realm of the nerd, in Estonia, its a kind of different approach.

Computerization increases effectiveness that is why it is of utmost importance to a small state.

With the help of a government-backed technology investment body, called the Tiger Leap Foundation, all Estonian schools were online by the late 1990s, which, of course, added to raising of new specialists.

Through Tiger Leap, they have been teaching programming at secondary level for some time. But their latest project is to introduce the concept to children earlier, when they enter at the age of seven. So far, they have trained 60 teachers to teach the first four year groups, BBC reports.

"By next September, when the new school year begins, I hope every school finds it to be important to integrate programming in their classes," says Tiger Leap's Ave Lauringson, who is in charge of the project.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves believes that computer programming fits perfectly into the school program, because it's a meter of pure logic.

Estonians today vote online and pay tax online. Their health records are online and, using what President Ilves likes to call a "personal access key" – others refer to it as an ID card – they can pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy. The card offers access to a wide range of other services. All this will be second nature to the youngest generation of E-stonians. They encounter electronic communication as soon as they enter school through the eKool (e-school) system. Exam marks, homework assignments and attendance in class are all available to parents at the click of a mouse, writes BBC.