Around 12,000 public school students in the capital will benefit from the HT Codeathon initiative due to collaborative efforts with the Delhi government, says Senior Deputy Minister Manish Sisodia, who has the education portfolio. The government has encouraged coding programs for female students and for them to follow STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), the scale of participation is broader this time, said Sisodia, who spoke to the Hindustan Times about the importance of coding, encouraging more students to learn to code and the role of HT Codeathon in today’s digital economy. Excerpts:
Until a decade or two ago, encryption was not as popular in the country as it is today. What has changed since then and why are more educators or educational policies focused on it?
It is the need of the moment. Children studying in schools will now become professionals in 10-15 years. If you don’t have coding skills, your foundation will be weak. [Apple co-founder] Steve Jobs had called computing a liberal art, so it’s not just about programming. Coding helps students think, visualize, and express themselves or talk about social problems.
So as a government, it is our responsibility that, if necessary, we should motivate people and bring them together. We wanted to teach children about new age technology. But when we came to power in 2015, classrooms were damaged and infrastructure needed repairs. Since then, we have been working and have improved infrastructure and conducted extensive teacher training programs, results in public schools have reached 98% and motivation is high among stakeholders. So we think now is the time to work on the future.
The new National Education Policy (NEP) calls for the introduction of coding for classes 6 and above. What kind of curriculum or learning should we envision under it?
The curriculum must be integrated along with other subjects. Rote learning won’t work here. Public school students, who previously participated in coding initiatives in our schools, wrote codes and developed animated videos on topics such as the importance of educating girls and the Covid-19 crisis. Today, if they were put into a framework based on a curriculum, they would not be able to think. In coding and programming, visualizing and thinking is equally important. Children must have the space to think, as this will lead to more successful results. We cannot have a rigid curriculum for it. Therefore, learning should focus on incorporating coding with languages or subjects such as history and math.
meIn a country like India, where there is widespread economic disparity, how can we ensure that all students learn to code, even those who do not have access to devices themselves?
Teaching coding to students who have used computers and smartphones from a young age is relatively easier than teaching someone who doesn’t even know how to turn on computers or who hasn’t heard of coding before. It is a challenge to introduce these children to coding, and we have embraced and succeeded in our previous initiatives. The lack of devices is a challenge, but the government does not have the revenue to provide devices due to the Covid-19 lockdown. We are running at less than 50% of revenue collection. We have to make sure that before giving phones to students, our teachers, healthcare workers and other staff are paid. However, the budget crisis is only temporary. In five years, the Delhi government has invested in education with an open heart. Over time, we hope to get more money to spend on education beyond infrastructure and teacher salaries.
There is a perception that coding is difficult or not for everyone. What can be done to dispel that notion?
The young women who showed their work today [at a Codeathon event on Thursday] decrypted everything. Students from poor backgrounds whose parents are rickshaw drivers, maids and laundry men, are now learning to code. There is a chance that older generations haven’t even learned how to turn on computers. But now these students have shown that learning to code is not impossible. We have around 1,500-2,000 teachers with B.Tech degrees and coding is their domain. This will help build enthusiasm among students for coding.
HT Codeathon is a mobile friendly initiative, and learning can occur online on mobile phones. What advantage will it have in public schools?
It’s a great initiative and it’s free to public school students. Additionally, Codeathon focuses on both learning and competitiveness, which will create enthusiasm among students to compete and learn better. Students without any software or engineering knowledge will learn coding, and that will lay the foundation for a new India.
You have traveled to various countries and studied their educational models. Regarding coding and technology, what is something we should emulate here?
Modern technology is part of their education and it is not just taught as a subject. It is introduced in the early stages of education. Technology must be integrated into the learning environment. They should be able to learn to code creatively. Once, during a visit to a school in a foreign country, I saw a group of students working on a play on the tax reform laws that were happening in the country at the time. This shows integrated learning. Students weren’t taught about reforms through rote learning in class … The way we embrace the liberal arts, we have to embrace coding. Through this larger experiment with HT Codeathon, involving thousands of students, a greater atmosphere of coding learning will develop in public schools.
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