Chile pushes digital education for students

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday urged the teaching of computing and digital skills to Chile's students so the country can be a future digital leader.

"In the knowledge and information society, Chile must take a leading role," said Pinera at an event for the international initiative, Hour of Code, which seeks to broaden participation in computer science.

"We cannot allow this to pass us by as we have many times in the past," he added.

The president stressed that programming helps to open society's doors to knowledge and information, and that he hoped every child in the country could take part.

The leader said Chile should make use of the "revolutionary technology knocking at our doors" to create a better society.

He also reminded event participants that in July the Ministry of Education had launched the National Digital Language Plan.

Pinera is pushing the digital transformation of the country and recently celebrated the investment of 140 million U.S. dollars to expand Google's Chilean data center, the only one of its kind in Latin America.

The Hour of Code was launched in 2013 by the U.S. foundation, Code.org.

Some 2,000 Chilean schools are linked to the initiative, with half a million students taking part.