Amazon’s new goal: Teach 10 million kids a year to code

NEW YORK  — Amazon wants to get more kids thinking about become computer engineers.

The company launched a program Thursday that aims to teach more than 10 million students a year how to code.

Amazon will pay for summer camps, teacher training and other initiatives that it says will benefit low-income kids and young adults who might not have learned to code otherwise. Amazon declined to put a price tag on the program, called Amazon Future Engineer.

Other companies have also committed cash toward bringing coding to schools, which could ultimately benefit the companies. There’s a shortage of computer engineers, and teaching students to code when they’re young will ensure a pipeline of future talent to hire. Amazon says it hopes some of the students who go through the program will work for the company. /ee