Total of 15,000 credit card-sized, bare-bones systems will be given away to encourage them to develop programming skills

Thousands of children in the UK are to receive free Raspberry Pi computers to encourage them to develop programming skills.

A total of 15,000 of the credit card-sized, bare-bones systems will be given away in a collaboration between the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google.

Speaking at Chesterton Community College in Cambridge, where a group of students received the first batch of free machines, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said he hoped the project would lead to more children and young people learning to write code.

"Britain's innovators and entrepreneurs have changed the world", he said. "The telephone, television and computers were all invented here.

"We've been working to encourage the next generation of computer scientists, and we hope that this donation of Raspberry Pis to British school pupils will help drive a new wave of innovation."

Schmidt, a vocal critic of the UK's computing curriculum, attacked the lack of attention paid to programming in his 2011 MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Tuesday's event saw him deliver a programming lesson to students alongside Raspberry Pi co-founder Eben Upton.

Upton said the partnership with Google could reverse the decline in students applying to study computing science at British universities, where applications have dropped by almost a quarter in the last decade.

"Fewer young people are applying to courses, which seems paradoxical when you think of the number and sophistication of digital devices they're using," he said.

"But generally the more sophisticated a device is, the harder it is to program. There's no lack of interest in technology, but there's a barrier between being a user and becoming a producer of content."

Upton argues the Raspberry Pi exemplified the spirit of a more open era where users could more readily program their devices. "In the 1980s people bought 8-bit computers like the ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro," he said. "They might have got them to play games or do their school work, but they also came with all the tools needed to write professional software."

But, he said: "That ecosystem has been eaten by PCs, which are programmable but require users to go and find the right tools, devices like smartphones and tablets which aren't designed with programmers in mind, and games consoles which aren't programmable at all."

Almost a million Raspberry Pis have been sold since the system's launch in March 2012, many to adult computer enthusiasts.

"A comparatively small number of those sales have been to schools", Upton said.

"But there are teachers who are dedicated hobbyists who have bought Pis with their own money and used them for after-school programming clubs. If schools are lucky enough to have those motivated, passionate teachers then they're part of the vanguard. Hopefully the partnership with Google will allow us to broaden our reach. We're particularly keen to get machines into disadvantaged schools and to introduce more girls to coding."

The machines will be distributed through educational organisations including Coderdojo, which runs free, volunteer-led classes for children interested in programming.

Lindsay Macvean, a professional web designer and Coderdojo mentor, said children had shown great enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi.

"It's a fascinating looking machine", he said. "The fact that you can actually see all the working parts draws kids into computing in a very raw way. We've had programming sessions with members of the original Raspberry Pi team and we've had kids using the Pi as a synthesiser to make music."

Macvean said the free systems would encourage children to explore computing science in ways that might not otherwise be possible.

"The fact that it's free means that there's no fear about breaking it", he said. "Parents aren't going to tell these kids: 'don't touch that, you might damage it' as they might with a family PC. They'll be able to play with these systems at a very fundamental level and see how things break and how to fix them, which is a very big thing in computing.

"They're understanding the concept of an operating system, learning to use a command line, and as none of the software is proprietary they don't have to stick with one company's products – they can chop and change things however they like."

The project marks the latest in a series of efforts by Google to promote programming education in the UK. The company had previously worked with the charity First Teach to provide computer science specialists to teach in schools.

Upton hopes other companies will follow suit. "It's good to see Google putting their money where their mouth is", he said.

"They've been vocal about promoting computing in the UK, and hopefully other organisations will have the same mindset.

"Sometimes individual companies can be apprehensive about getting involved because there's always the risk that you make an investment and the improved talent pool will go and work for your competitors, but if the whole industry gets together then we could do something on a massive scale."