IITS Artificial Intelligence Course Series Launches in Hong Kong

Cho Yiu Catholic Primary School has begun teaching a STEM modular robotics and programming course built on the IITS artificial intelligence curriculum — the first formal delivery of IITS programmes in Hong Kong.

The classroom was busy. Children worked in groups through the components and the colour-coded block programming, and after instruction and a good deal of argument among themselves, got their builds finished, their code written, and their machines moving. Every course in the IITS AI series ships with full lesson plans and teaching materials, so that teachers can design the session in advance rather than improvise it.

The course was designed for Cho Yiu under the IITS "Future Industry and IT Talent" framework. Its aims are for students to understand basic mechanical components, to develop design thinking, and to grasp the fundamentals of mechanical and electronic control. It runs across two terms and sixteen sessions, combining teacher-led instruction, hands-on building and group work.

Hong Kong has been positioning itself as an international innovation and technology centre and a hub for tertiary education. Government policy has made STEAM education a key direction, introduced programming at primary level and artificial intelligence into the junior secondary curriculum, and encouraged schools to identify students with STEAM potential. The Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address gave science and technology priority in the education system.

Cho Yiu Catholic Primary School takes a whole-person approach, balancing the five domains of development while keeping Chinese cultural tradition at its centre — students who have the skills they need, who can find information for themselves, and who are willing to create.

Against that background, the school's decision to adopt the IITS framework is both a recognition of what IITS offers in school technology education and a step in delivering the national strategies of revitalising the country through science and education, and strengthening it through talent.