Sectoral Council

Project "Programming is the New Literacy"

 Skills of software developers in Belarus have been significantly enhanced thanks to the development of Hi-Tech Park. Therefore HTP professionals strongly believe that future career of a successful IT specialist starts from childhood.

In 2016 Hi-Tech Park together with the Ministry of Education launched the republican educational project "Programming is the new literacy". This project is aimed at broad-based training of schoolchildren in the fundamentals of programming.

Within the framework of the project, curricula based on the use of the Scratch visual programming environment have been developed, allowing students to easily grasp the basic principles of programming. These curricula are available to all general education institutions across the country, making IT knowledge accessible to every schoolchild. Today, over 47,000 students from all regions of Belarus are learning the basics of Scratch programming, starting from the 2nd grade, in extracurricular classes.

Project "Computer science unplugged"

The Hi-Tech Park Belarus educational project «Computer science unplugged» for preschool education institutions is aimed at developing logical thinking and algorithmic skills in children aged 5–6 without the use of a computer, as a foundation for propaedeutics of computer science in school.

Developing algorithmic and logical thinking at preschool age makes it possible to later form a special, "programmer's" mindset.

Hi-Tech Park Belarus developed a methodology for building algorithmic literacy in preschoolers, aimed at helping them acquire the skills to structure information and operate with it using logical operations without a computer. The methodology was successfully tested in preschool education institutions during a republican experimental project in the 2020/2021 academic year.

Over five years, 3,022 teaching staff from preschool education institutions have been trained and have become tutors of the project at Hi-Tech Park.

In the 2024/2025 academic year, within the framework of the «Computer science unplugged» project, more than 10,500 preschoolers are being trained at 628 preschool education institutions in 168 cities and localities across Belarus.

Computer Science Unplugged – For Every Child

Today in Belarus, as in many other countries, autism spectrum disorders are particularly prominent among childhood diseases.

For children with special needs in psychophysical development, additional preschool education plays a particularly important role: special programs are required for the successful development of such children. To help children with autism successfully integrate into society, games and tasks are needed that help them develop and better understand the world around them.

The additional education program «Computer Science Unplugged – For Every Child», developed at Hi-Tech Park Belarus, is aimed at students with special needs in psychophysical development, including those with autism spectrum disorders. This program is based on five years of experience implementing the educational project «Computer Science Unplugged» for preschool education institutions.

Among other things, didactic games for the program «Computer Science Unplugged – For Every Child» have been developed and published in the form of a collection. These games stimulate the mental activity of children with special needs in psychophysical development, help develop the foundations of algorithmic thinking and logic, and build intellectual readiness for schooling.

Discovery Lab

The Hi-Tech Park Belarus educational project "Discovery Lab" aims to create conditions for developing cognitive interest and research skills in older preschool children and primary school students as a foundation for propaedeutics of studying physics in school.

Knowledge of physics is the basis for obtaining an engineering education. The quality of engineering personnel is one of the key factors in a state's competitiveness. IT specialists need knowledge of physics for programming robotic devices, microcontrollers, smart home devices, for designing graphics, developing digital models of real-world object interactions, and so on.

Hi-Tech Park Belarus has developed a curriculum for extracurricular classes "Discovery Lab" for grade I (II) of educational institutions implementing general secondary education programs, as well as an additional education (club) program "Discovery Lab" for children aged 5–7.

In the 2024/2025 academic year, within the framework of the "Discovery Lab" project, extracurricular classes are held in 186 general secondary education institutions, and clubs operate in 273 preschool education institutions.