Literacy is a right and a need that the government has been addressing for decades. As the world heads towards an increasingly tech-centric future, the ability to code could be the “next level of literacy”. It is on the basis of this presumption that Shivram Choudhary founded Codevidhya.
“In this era, where most jobs involve programming and dealing with software, coding has become the most popular language worldwide. Considering this, the idea of teaching coding as a part of literacy was established,” he says.
Codevidhya is an education tartup, dedicated to converting classrooms in Indian schools into programming powerhouses with a vision to empower the new generation to create and innovate using technology. It offers a structured and up-to-date coding curriculum for schools to teach coding to students from classes I to X.
It offers a full-year programme that includes overall learning in the form of training for teachers, workshops for students, an online platform for assessments, projects, code challenges, assessments, programme monitoring, mentoring and support. Focus is laid on programming languages, and exposure is given to Scratch, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, PHP, and more. Besides, Codevidya also offers summer and winter clubs and after-school programmes that have a shorter duration.
Benefits
What is the need to introduce coding so early in schools? The answer lies in viewing coding as a life skill, in a technology-driven world that is witnessing automation, and the development of robots and self-driven cars. “In this digital era, every second job is based on technology, and our schools are still teaching simple operations like left-clicking, right-clicking the mouse, which students can learn easily, in no time. Learning to code is similar to learning a new language. Sooner the children are exposed to fundamental topics such as sequencing, loops, and conditionals, the more deeply they absorb these concepts,” explains Choudhary. Plus, including something new and innovative to a school’s curriculum can give students a break from the usual.
This learning extends its use beyond the classroom as well: it stimulates idea generation in kids, teaches them how to think and solve logical problems, stimulates critical thinking, teaches them to break down one big problem into smaller problems and find solutions, and analyse different situations in order to connect the dots eventually.
Choudhary complements this point with the example of students from class VII, VIII, and IX students from Euro International School in Sikar developing an app that solves a real-life problem.
“Ekunit.org, is an online platform that instantly connects blood donors and receivers on an urgent need basis. The young developers came up with this idea when they were asked to think out-of-the-box and look around for a social problem that can be solved through coding and technology. EkUnit is the most successful project that has been implemented and is live. Lives of 19 individuals have been saved using this application,” he explains.
Currently, Codevidhya has partnered with Isha Vidhya Schools to implement their annual curriculum to teach coding to its less-privileged students from class IV to IX across 10 schools around South India, covering districts of Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Kanyakumari, Tuticorin, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Chittoor and Karur.
