Yesterday was the launch symposium for a public-private consortium promoting programming education. It’s an initiative being promoted through collaboration between the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
Mr. Niitsu from MEXT told me, “You’re the last presenter, so give it your best!”—but I couldn’t help but get a little emotional and tear up… I guess I’m just getting old
. Or maybe it’s pollen. No, I don’t have hay fever.

I spoke about my 15 years of activities in programming, the challenges we’ve faced, and our response strategies (i.e., the actions we’ve taken), and I raised two points regarding my expectations for the public-private consortium.
First, given the collaboration among the three ministries, I asked that the government raise the priority of educational informatization and education policy within the government. Without investing both funding and human resources in this area, there is no future.
Second, I asked that the consortium make effective use of the private sector’s practical experience to date. From a private-sector perspective, we have been working to build the platform that the consortium aims to create. As a private-sector entity, we intend to cooperate fully with the government’s initiatives, so I hope you will make use of our expertise.
Reference: http://csforall.jp/

It’s been 15 years since we first launched this initiative as a private-sector effort. I’m deeply moved to think we’ve finally made it this far, but the real work begins now. While
Japan is often said to be lagging behind, there are few countries that can roll out such a program nationwide, leaving no one behind, once the decision to implement it is made. This is our chance to become a leading nation in programming education overnight. I spoke about how we should combine the strengths of the
public and private sectors to make Japan a powerhouse in programming education!

Many of the supporters of the public-private consortium are also advisors to CS for ALL, and it’s truly reassuring to have so many people who have supported us over the years (*^^*)
http://csforall.jp/adviser/

■Endorsers■Yasufumi
Kanemaru, Representative Director, Chairman and President, and Group
CEO, Future Co., Ltd.; Hiroki Kuriyama, Director, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (Head of the New Business Promotion Office; in charge of 2020 preparations)Takako
Nakamura, Dedicated Department Head, Youth and Educational Programming Division
, First Production Center, Production Bureau, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK); Toshio Shimada, Vice Chairman, Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association(JISA); Tatsuya
Miyake, Chair of the Planning Department, Education Issues Committee, KEIDANREN
(Japan Business Federation); Yasuji Funatsu, Education Reform Project Team, Japan Association of New Economy;Nanakko
Ishido, Chairperson, CANVAS (NPO); Yoshihisa
Aono, President and CEO, Cybozu, Inc
.; Tatsuya Mori, Vice Chairman
, Japan National Council for Educational Materials; Noboru Okubo, President,
Japan Association for the Promotion of Science Education; Yasutaka Shimizu, Advisor to the President andProfessor
Emeritus Tatsuya Hotta; Ken
Sakamura, Professor, Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University; Osamu
Sudo, Professor, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo; Tsutomu Togasaki, Professor, Graduate School
of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo; Yasushi Mori, Superintendent of the Toda
City Board of Education; Shoichi Komazaki, Director, Comprehensive Education Research Institute, Tsukuba City Board of Education; Toshihiko Yokoo,
Principal
, Nakano City Midori Elementary School; Chairman, National Council of Mayors for ICT Education; Mayor of Taku City, Saga Prefecture