: Should You Enrol Your Kid For Coding Classes? Heres How We Decided #IndiaNEWS #Education While searching online whether we should enrol Anandini, our five-year-old daughter, for a coding class or

Should You Enrol Your Kid For Coding Classes? Heres How We Decided #IndiaNEWS #Education
While searching online whether we should enrol Anandini, our five-year-old daughter, for a coding class or not, we found extreme viewpoints. While some support the idea, others view it as unnecessary or even damaging. Provoked as a mom and boggled as a researcher by contradictory opinions, I started my research with the help of my student, Monica Sareen. Over the next few weeks, we interviewed IT experts, educators and parents on the issue. We looked at companies offering coding packages, profiles of their teachers, and previously published information on the net. The key points are as follows.
To begin with, what is coding?
As per the Cambridge dictionary, code is the language used to give instructions to the computer. In simple words, coding is the skill of writing computer programmes. Many EdTech companies offer coding classes for kids starting from class 1 to 12. To put in perspective, the minimum age for admission to class 1 in India is mostly six years. Does that mean that a six-year-old child will start writing computer programs? Not really.
Whats being taught?
We looked through packages offered, talked to a few trainers and found that coding here is a misnomer. What is taught is either introduction to basic coding terminology or coding applications rather than writing programs from scratch. Dr Ashish Tripathi, Assistant Professor at MNIT Jaipur, shared with us, The basic foundation of coding is mathematics and physics. If the foundation is strong, one can learn to code easily. To go the other way round is illogical. He added that sometimes even BTech graduates are unable to write computer programs, especially from streams other than computer science.
Claims and Counterclaims
Most companies claim that children start developing applications within a few weeks. Prashant Jakhar, an IT professional and an engineer by qualification, helped us review the applications shared by a leading company. Most of these applications had zero downloads, and some had ratings as low as 2. 5. It takes many experienced and trained minds to come together to create a revenue-generating application, he said. Vaibhav, a government employee, an engineer by training, and a father to a five-year-old daughter, suggested, Coding is just a language. The child must know what to write rather than only knowing the writing rules. That is more important and requires logic.
Many online articles claim that coding is mandatory as per the New Education Policy (NEP). We browsed through the NEP draft and found that it mentions activities involving coding will be introduced in the middle stage, i. e. from class 6 onward. The NEP prioritised foundational literacy and numeracy skills by class 3 and holistic and multi-disciplinary education by teaching life skills, language, creativity, ethics, and technology use.

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