THE recent GCSE results highlighted that the number of children taking ICT courses in Yorkshire has fallen by 17 per cent compared to last year.
This is strange given there’s a national shortage of skilled IT professionals, and these jobs typically attract good wages and a rewarding career path.
It is even less understandable given that children these days are generally surrounded by computers and spend a lot of time online.
The Royal Society has suggested that this is because ICT GCSE lessons are ‘too boring’.
As a volunteer speaker for the charity ChildNet, I have been in to many classrooms and taught students of the dangers that surround them online.
Issues such as poisoned Facebook applications, dirty music downloads and credit card phishing attacks gets them interested and is relevant to their lives.
As such, I believe adding information security to the IT curriculum would not only make it more interesting, but it would also help young people to protect themselves online.
Tony Osborn, Manager, UK Public Sector Technology Team, Symantec.
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