Students of govt schools learn coding skills sans computers

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: In a novel initiative, about 600 Class IX students from six State-run schools in different parts of the backward district are learning coding skills without using computers, and what more they’re enjoying it too. The credit for the effort goes to the Education Department which in collaboration with Hyderabad-based startup Next Skills […]

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: In a novel initiative, about 600 Class IX students from six State-run schools in different parts of the backward district are learning coding skills without using computers, and what more they’re enjoying it too. The credit for the effort goes to the Education Department which in collaboration with Hyderabad-based startup Next Skills 360 EdTech Private Limited, has begun imparting coding skills to these students.

“Two teachers and 60 students were selected and trained for a week in virtual mode by the start-up. The teachers and students, known as master trainers, are now teaching the basics of coding to their peers during one of the class periods every day. The programme is being implemented in the district for the first time,” District Educational Officer P Ashok told Telangana Today.

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The students drawn from government schools at Buruguguda village in Asifabad mandal, Government Zilla Parishad High School (Boys) and Government Zilla Parishad High School (Girls), Government school in Jankapur, TS Model School in Asifabad and Ashram School in Wankidi mandal centre were attending coding classes since Thursday. The programme would continue till the end of the academic year.

Rakesh Kumar Maddiveni, one of the master trainers, said they teach coding to other students using kits provided by the start-up and ProGame, an Android-based application. “Students are also given homework. A test will be conducted at the end to assess the coding abilities of students,” he said.

Bridging the digital divide

Soujanya Suraj, one of the founders of Next Skills 360, said they decided to teach coding skills to students to bridge the digital divide faced by them, considering the backwardness of the district. “We approached Additional Collector of the district K Varun Reddy, who gave his nod. As many as 300 coding and cardboard kits were given to the teachers and students. They are being shared by the students,” she said.

Master trainers can teach coding to the students with the help of their mobile phone and a scratch programming language, developed by MIT-USA. The students are exposed to concepts of coding and programming through the kits. “We formulated certain activities which help the students easily understand coding,” Soujanya explained.

Students perform well in coding

The programme head said the students were performing well. She said they wrote about 1,100 programmes in 18 hours. She disclosed that they would like to cover more students and schools in the district in the future. The initiative was implemented in several parts of Telangana on a pilot basis in the past, she said. Veda Sri and Abhijith, students of Telangana Model School in Asifabad, shared that they could easily understand the basics of coding with the help of kits. The two stated that they effortlessly learned various foundations of coding such as innovative thinking, critical thinking, logical thinking, problem solving, communication, etc without depending on computers.

 

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