Metro

Teaching tech a top priority in city schools

They’re bringing the tech boom to the classroom.

The city Department of Education is planning to turn 20 public middle and high schools into training grounds for budding computer scientists and software engineers — the latest step in a bid to boost New York’s status as Silicon Alley.

The initiative, set to launch next fall, will introduce middle- and high- school curricula dedicated to — and aligned with the needs of — the high-tech sector.

“This is the first real full systematic approach to mapping the skills required to enter into the software engineering and computer industries,” said deputy academic chief Josh Thomases.

Among the core topics for high-schoolers will be robotics, embedded electronics, mobile computing, and Web design and programming.

A May 2012 report by the Center for an Urban Future found that the number of information-technology jobs in the city had jumped from just over 41,000 in 2007 to nearly 53,000 in 2012.

“We need more technical education in our schools, and we need it badly,” said Union Square Ventures co-founder Fred Wilson, who helped advise the city’s program.

“This is not a New York City thing,” he said. “This is a global thing.”