The world is focusing on artificial intelligence, but I believe the real investment lies in building human intelligence. As the world becomes increasingly digital, it is imperative to teach coding not merely as a technical skill, but as a new form of literacy and a passport to participation in the economies of the future.
Globally, over half of countries have added computer science to their national curricula in the past five years, recognizing digital skills as foundational to learning. In April 2024, Pakistan’s National Curriculum Council (NCC) formally embedded Computer Science as a compulsory subject from middle school through higher secondary, with phased implementation for grades IX–XII beginning in 2024–25 across all provinces. I had the privilege of serving as the NCC’s technical lead for computer science, working with experts from Pakistan and abroad to introduce programming and emerging technologies such as generative AI into the curriculum.
But policy reform is only the first step. Implementation will determine whether these changes create opportunity or reproduce exclusion – especially for girls who remain underrepresented in Pakistan’s technology education landscape. Coding may be the language of the future, but who gets to speak it depends on who is invited to the classroom, and who is left outside.
GENDERED EXCLUSION IN A DIGITIZING SYSTEM
In Pakistan, the digital divide is inseparable from the gender divide. Boys are more likely to have access to devices and the freedom to attend afterschool programs, while girls are often restricted by mobility constraints or household responsibilities. According to the World Bank (2024)1, Women’s Economic Empowerment in Pakistan, about 20 percent of men and only 9 percent of women have ever used a computer, a gap that reflects gender norms around technology access.
At the same time, the teaching workforce that could normalize coding in the early years is overwhelmingly female and largely untrained in ICT. At the lower‐secondary level in Pakistan, over 70 percent of teachers are women2, most lacking training in ICT or coding. The result is a dual exclusion: girls are less likely to be learners of coding, and women are less likely to be teachers of it. This structural imbalance constrains both the supply of role models and the visibility of women in the digital space.
DESIGN, LANGUAGE, AND PEDAGOGY AS HIDDEN BARRIERS
Even when access exists, design decisions within coding education often reinforce inequality. Most coding platforms and languages were created in English-speaking countries, assuming constant electricity, high-speed internet, and child-centered classroom cultures. In Pakistan, these assumptions rarely hold true. Public schools typically operate with little to no devices, intermittent power supply, and a curriculum that prioritizes examinations over exploration.
The language of instruction adds another layer of complexity. Although Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have adopted English as the official medium for science and mathematics, teachers continue to explain concepts in Urdu or regional languages. In coding classrooms, syntax remains in English while explanations switch between languages, creating an additional cognitive load for students. For girls in public schools, who often have fewer chances to practice outside class, this hybrid model can become a quiet but powerful form of exclusion. Pedagogy, too, mirrors broader inequities. Coding is often taught as rote memorization - defining terms, reproducing commands, or copying code from the board - rather than through creative or problem-solving exercises. Such an approach stifles experimentation, the very skill coding is meant to cultivate. Girls face greater pressure to avoid mistakes since research consistently shows that girls are socialized to value compliance, correctness, and perfection in academic settings, while boys are encouraged to take risks and experiment. Many studies, including UNESCO’s Cracking the Code: Girls’ and Women’s Education in STEM3, show that girls are more harshly judged for academic errors in both home and school environments, leading to lower confidence in STEM subjects even when their competence is equal to or higher than that of boys. In such contexts, rigid, error-averse pedagogy discourages girls from engaging with coding as something they can own and explore.
...ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF MEN AND ONLY 9 PERCENT OF WOMEN HAVE EVER USED A COMPUTER, A GAP THAT REFLECTS GENDER NORMS AROUND TECHNOLOGY ACCESS.
EVIDENCE FROM THE FIELD
The barriers highlighted above are not theoretical. Since 2021 Code School has implemented three programs to test whether children from low-resource settings could learn coding effectively if structural barriers were addressed.
The first pilot involved children of domestic staff in Karachi, enrolled to assess whether coding literacy could be delivered to learners with no prior digital exposure. The second took place at a low-cost school on the outskirts of Lahore, where teachers were trained to integrate coding into regular class timetables using shared devices. The third pilot was at a technical training institute in Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore, where adolescent learners were introduced to computational thinking as part of technical upskilling.
Across all three settings, the outcomes were consistent. Children’s capacity to learn coding did not differ by income, language, or gender. What limited progress were systemic issues: inadequate teacher preparation, lack of localized materials, and program designs that assumed infrastructure and privilege. These pilots demonstrated that when design is inclusive and instruction is contextually grounded, girls engage with coding as confidently as boys. The gap is not in ability but in opportunity.
FROM POLICY TO PRACTICE: DESIGNING FOR INCLUSION
Pakistan’s education policies now provide the foundation for digital inclusion, but they will succeed only if implementation accounts for gendered realities. Achieving this requires rethinking both pedagogy and infrastructure through an equity lens.
First, start early and make coding visible to girls. Early exposure at the primary level normalizes coding before stereotypes about who “belongs” in technology take hold. Integrating playful, project-based activities into classroom learning ensures that girls see coding as creative, not intimidating.
Second, invest in women teachers. Female teachers are the backbone of Pakistan’s education system. Building their confidence and technical capacity is the fastest route to gender-equitable classrooms. Teacher training must include accessible, guided materials that can be used offline and in multiple languages. Third, design for realistic infrastructure. In urban areas, group-based models can make limited devices go further. In regions with unreliable electricity, offline-first approaches- unplugged computational thinking exercises, printed materials, or low-tech devices - can still develop core logic skills. The design of programs must meet schools where they are, not where global templates assume them to be.
WHY GENDER MATTERS FOR THE DIGITAL FUTURE
With over 60 percent of its population under 30, Pakistan stands at a critical juncture. If half of its youth - girls - remain excluded from meaningful participation in coding and digital education, the country risks locking them out of the fastest-growing segments of the global economy. But the implications go beyond economics. Coding is not only about employability; it is about agency. When a girl learns to code, she learns that she can build, experiment, and solve problems. When a woman teaches coding, she signals to every child in her class that women belong in technology.
Coding education is not a technical agenda; it is a gendered one. Policy reform has opened the door, and the next step is ensuring that girls and women can walk through it.
Sadaf Rehman is the Co-Founder of Code School and 2024 technical lead for Computer Science at Pakistan’s National Curriculum Council.
- World Bank. (2024). Women’s Economic Empowerment in Pakistan. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
- World Bank. (2019). World Development Indicators: Percentage of teachers in lower secondary education who are female (%). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.TCHR.FE.ZS
- UNESCO (2017). Cracking the Code: Girls’ and Women’s Education in STEM. Paris: UNESCO