Andorra reveals plan to become international eSports hub by teaching digital sports in schools
Andorra reveals plan to become international eSports hub by teaching digital sports in schools
‘Many of the young people don’t want to be doctors, lawyers or architects,’ one minister revealed. ‘They want to be in this industry’
Andorra is the first European country to promote eSports in its education system as part of a national strategy to encourage the sector and attract foreign investment, Jordi Gallardo, the economy minister, told i in an interview.
It is also hoped that digital sports as opposed to traditional games like football or basketball will help retain many pupils’ interest in school as they learn about programming, strategy and how to react to real life situations.
“Some students in schools will have the opportunity to learn about eSports. They can learn about programming,” Mr Gallardo said before travelling to Britain to meet UK trade ministers and business leaders.
“Many of the young people don’t want to be doctors, lawyers or architects. They want to be in this industry.”
The mountain nation performs well by comparison to many other countries on measures to do with both the economy and society, including a long life expectancy and a high GDP per capita. The eSports focus would come as another layer on top of an already open, investment-focused economy.
Mr Gallardo said it was hoped that teaching eSports in the classroom would stop some pupils from giving up their studies.
“It is a way to attract or to retain talent because many young people don’t want to study and it will be a way to help them. At the same time they are learning. They may not (learn things connected to) the eSports sector. It is a way to stop them from abandoning their studies.”
Mr Gallardo said figures showed that more young people were playing eSports than football or other conventional sports.
“These consumers of tomorrow are more focused on eSports than they are in traditional sports. We want to be part of this,” he said.
“The tiny size of our country is a problem for playing things like football but it is not a problem for our digital economy.”
Andorra has a population of 78,000, of which about 800 are British expatriates.
Popular with skiers in winter because of its mountainous terrain, the landlocked country measures only 468km2.
However, it does not have not have much flat land left over for football pitches or basketball courts.
As income tax is only 10 per cent in Andorra, the country has proved an attractive haven for YouTubers who moved from neighbouring Spain to escape the Spanish tax regime.
TEXT, PROPRIÉTÉ de: https://inews.co.uk/news/world/andorra-plan-international-esports-hub-lessons-1619776