NET RESULTS:From Irish start-ups to the large multinationals it's the same story – they can't find suitably qualified people for tech jobs – and something must be done about it, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON

I’D LIKE to see 2012 be the year in which the State finally begins to address the serious lack of computing skills in schools.

Years of indifference are contributing to unnecessary emigration right now. The ICT sector is one of the few areas of Irish business that has expanded and increased jobs right through all the economic turmoil we have seen in recent years.

Yet business leaders in the sector have repeatedly indicated that lack of skills – particularly in programming but also extending across all sorts of related ICT functions – leaving both small indigenous companies and our largest multinationals unable to fill thousands of jobs. Yes, that’s right – thousands of jobs.

What that translates into is several thousand students who could have challenging and exciting, well-paid jobs at home, if they had the preparation for a jobs market that is ready and waiting for qualified individuals.

January has been a month that has highlighted this problem for me in particular. First off, when I recently asked six entrepreneurs who founded and run Irish-based technology companies, what they saw as their greatest challenge in the year ahead, almost every one raised the issue of the difficulty of finding employees with appropriate technology skills and qualifications.

Each person was approached individually for my January 6th story, and had no idea what the others had said.

This problem, which was also highlighted by ICT Ireland and Engineers Ireland last year at a special event, is clearly a very serious consideration for companies and will be an influencing factor in whether they decide to remain in, or invest in, Ireland.

I could not help but think about this last week, too, when students from all over the country came together for the annual, wonderfully energetic and inspiring BT Young Scientist Technology Exhibition. No one can doubt that the capability is there for the nation’s students to tackle science and technology problems.

Indeed, one of the most impressive things about the competition year after year – and superbly reflected in this year’s winners, Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly from Synge Street CBS in Dublin – is how Irish students take on and solve some real world and extremely complex problems.

Showing breathtaking ability and smarts, these two 17-year-olds have done work that is likely to benefit organisations like NASA. These young scientists and all the category winners are the people who will be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and researchers, to the benefit of us all.

But it’s also clear how hard so many of these students in schools struggle to learn, and teachers to teach, science and technology subjects that for the most part are not properly funded or in the case of programming, even included in the curriculum of most schools. It’s dedicated teachers and parents that often fill the gaps.

Recently, someone in the technology sector pointed out to me that he could not find a single transition year course on programming in Ireland.

Students could learn all sorts of weird and wonderful things, but not computer science and programming – skills and interests that could create an exciting future for students who typically have so little programming exposure that they have never had the chance to discover if they have an interest and ability in the area, much less to pursue it if they do.

What does that say about the State’s attempt to give its students the education and the opportunities they need? In an era when digital literacy is going to be paramount for any citizen in the future, how can students complete their education and not understand the basics of computer coding and design, or how to productively use and be creative with digital technologies?

Last week, the UK’s education minister Michael Gove said his country would overhaul the way in which ICT is presented in the curriculum, as it was creating a nation of students “bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers”.

Instead, he said, students in the near future should be able to make their own 2-D animations and know enough code to create their own smart phone apps.

And I will guarantee that those students will be so much more engaged with how and what they learn. Many – thousands – will find in coding their own app, that they fall in love with the beautiful logic of programming, for life.

We need to do the same overhaul here. I know from talking to teachers, how few resources they are given, and from talking to students, how few opportunities they have to ever sit down and play with code in a school, or any other, setting.

One small glimmer of hope in the coming year is the new EU-funded SAILS (Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science) programme, which will provide €3.75 million to support teachers in moving towards a more creative, enquiries-based approach to teaching science in schools.

But that’s not enough. The entire curriculum in science and technology needs creative restructuring. Not one single Irish student should be able to finish their years of schooling without knowing some basic programming.

One thing is for sure: unless something is done, our poor showing in ICT, starting at schools level, will increasingly limit this nation’s creative capabilities and economic possibilities.