Computers require specialized information. Those that have that information are--by nature of capitalism--herded into pens that sell software. For a business a lot of pain and capital could be avoided if its constituents were educated to a satisfactory degree on computers.

National governments have failed woefully in computer education. What initiatives they had were infiltrated and distorted by for-profit-software which transformed them into classes on how to use their software.

I do think programming is a required prerequisite to thriving in a modern society. An uncountable amount of hours have been wasted because "the computer said so." To program is as much a requirement as the ability to write was earlier. To be able to utilize a computer without being able to program it is akin to being able to read but not write. There's a fundamental disconnect with software that is exploited for criminal profits.