Dozens of teachers specialising in computer science are to work in English schools thanks to a partnership between Google and the charity Teach First. Google's chairman Eric Schmidt said money would also be provided to buy "teaching aids, such as Raspberry Pi's or Arduino starter kits".
He said that without investment in the subject, the UK risked "losing a generation" of scientists. Mr Schmidt had previously criticised the country's ICT curriculum. He had said the UK was "throwing away [its] great computing heritage" by focusing on using software rather than how it was made.
The comments, delivered last August at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, prompted education secretary Michael Gove to revamp the curriculum to incorporate programming and other tech skills.
Speaking on Wednesday at London's Science Museum, Mr Schmidt outlined further plans: "Put simply, technology breakthroughs can't happen without the scientists and engineers to make them. The challenge that society faces is to equip enough people, with the right skills and mindset, and to get them to work on the most important problems."
Despite acknowledging progress, he described computer science education in the UK as still being in a "sorry state".
He announced that Google would provide the funds to support Teach First - a charity which puts "exceptional" graduates on a six-week training programme before deploying them to schools where they teach classes over a two-year period.
