Tech Titans Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg And Jeff Bezos Lead Push For K-12 Computer Science Education Funding In Congress

Silicon Valley's leaders and tech titans Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are urging Congress to ensure funding for K-12 Computer Science education in public schools. The CEOs of Apple, Facebook and Amazon have formed the Computer Science Education Coalition with other bipartisan groups to push their agenda. They want Congress to come up with $250 million to fund school districts that will help kids learn to code.

Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are joined by philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, California Governor Jerry Brown and 26 other governors across the state in their efforts. There are also educators and school board members in the coalition and some have already pledged their support via Code.Org. The full list of 5,800 supporters of the group is found in the CSE Coalition website.

Microsoft, Google, Zuckerberg, Bezos and others have collectively committed $48 million to fund K-12 computer science education...

— The Doyle Group (@TheDoyleGroup) April 26, 2016

You, Too, Can Support Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg And Jeff Bezos

However, the coalition acknowledges that the money they have raised is not enough. "Despite this groundswell, three-quarters of U.S. schools do not offer meaningful computer science courses," the coalition stated in the press release. "This bipartisan issue can be addressed without growing the Federal budget."

Mark Zuckerberg is also urging the American public to join in their cause by signing an online petition. "As our world gets more connected, it's more important than ever that we teach our children to code," said on his Facebook account.

Why K-12 Computer Education Funding Matters

The group underscores that computer science education is not just limited to learning and developing technology as it has economic implications too, per Phys.Org. Additionally, coders can help the government in matters of national security.

Thus, computer education should be given priority as future coders should be competitive and on top of their game. That can only happen with getting the best education.

"The breadth of support shows that computer science isn't just a tech problem anymore, it's an America problem," said Hadi Partovi of Code Org, via Tech Crunch. Partovi also said the money will be used for training teachers in public schools so that more students will get the opportunity to learn coding.

What do you think of this drive? Would you support the coalition? Let us know in the comments!