The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom along with Tech Valley Pakistan, Telecom Foundation and Virtual University in collaboration with Google launched the CS First programme in Pakistan.

The programme is aim to help kids – aged between nine and 14 years – learn coding along with other IT skills, the ministry said in a statement.

The inauguration ceremony was held Wednesday at the Ministry of IT, which was attended by Google South Asia Head Farhan S Qureshi, Information Technology Minister Syed Aminul Haque, and IT Secretary Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui.

“CS First Program is the comprehension of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of Digital Pakistan and is an important stepping stone in introducing digitalization in Pakistan”, said Syed Amin Ul Haque.

The CS First programme will benefit 13 Telecom Foundation Schools nationwide in the first phase.

The CS First is a free computer science course that enables young students to design their own projects using a block-based coding tool Scratch. It is being used by thousands of instructors and students in over 75 countries.