We stand by our call: strengthen digital competence in the curriculum

The debate

On May 15th  2026, Women in Tech Sweden joined 20 other organisations in signing an open letter published in Dagens industri, directed at the Swedish parliament and government. Our shared concern: that the government’s proposed curriculum revision risks weakening digital competence as a core part of Swedish education, at precisely the moment when it matters most.

The research case is clear. In countries where digital competence is embedded in the curriculum, girls perform as well as boys, and in Finland better, including in programming. OECD data shows that countries with mandatory digital education have 15 percent more women entering technical programmes. When schools treat digital skills as optional or peripheral, the gap does not close on its own.

The ministers Lotta Edholm and Nina Larsson responded, arguing that the government is working deliberately to engage girls and women in tech and AI, and that returning schools to foundational skills is not in conflict with building digital competence over time. They point to AI as a new subject in upper secondary school, a STEM delegation, 600 million SEK invested in engineering programmes, and a major research bill with significant AI components.

We welcome those investments. But our closing reply made the core tension clear: the government’s ambitions and its curriculum choices do not yet add up. Interest, confidence and future choices are shaped early. If students do not get meaningful exposure to digital tools, the possibilities of technology and the ability to think critically about AI-generated content before they reach upper secondary school, we risk narrowing the path into tech for the very groups we are trying to reach. This is a question of general education and civic literacy, not just technical skills. That is why starting at the gymnasium level or university is too late.

We were also clear that this debate is not about screen time or replacing books with iPads. It is about how the curriculum equips pupils with the right knowledge and good judgment for a digital world. Finland combines strong literacy with clear commitments to digital competence in its curriculum. The two are not in opposition. They reinforce each other, and the evidence shows that this approach in particular benefits girls.

Why the door closes too early

As Women in Tech Sweden chair Elin Eriksson put it in an interview on the subject:

“Children are generally curious about technology and love to create and be creative. But one reason many girls don’t end up in tech is that the doors close too early. It can be something as small as a school counselor discouraging a student from applying to a technical upper secondary programme because she is better at languages than maths.”

This is exactly the pattern that a stronger curriculum commitment to digital competence can interrupt. AI’s broad range of applications shows that there are many ways to be creative in the digital world, without being a prodigy in maths or programming. Every child deserves the chance to play, experiment and create, and that engagement is what can make Sweden a true engineering nation for the next generation.

What happens next

The Riksdag votes on the proposition on 3 June. The regulatory work that follows will determine much of the detail, and we will continue to follow it closely. The full exchange in Dagens industri ran across three pieces:

1. Our original open letter: Regeringen stänger ute flickor från AI
2. The ministers’ reply: Replik: Först knäcka läskod, sedan knäcka kod
3. Our closing reply: Slutreplik: Vi ser fram emot tydlighet den 3 juni