Meet these budding coders who participated in HT Code-a-thon 2021
Technology has assumed an integral role in our lives today, especially since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. Its usage has expanded exponentially and it has become a part of almost every aspect of our lives, and is here to stay for the years to come. As a result, developing technical skills amongst students has become the need of the hour. One specific area which has been creating a lot of buzz for a while now is coding. Although a plethora of online coding courses exist, limitations related to digitisation unfortunately make accessibility to learning such skills difficult.
With an aim to provide an opportunity for students from rural schools to learn this skill, IBM, in partnership with the American India Foundation (AIF), sponsored 5000 students to participate in the Code-a-thon, organised by Hindustan Times. This comes as a part of IBM’s commitment in investing in the empowerment of the students to make them future-ready and increase the global talent pool, with a special emphasis on girl students. As part of this commitment, IBM has been running its flagship programme 'STEM for Girls India' across 12 states in India. The STEM for Girls India programme aims to create a robust STEM ecosystem that creates critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and next-generation innovators in the country. The American India Foundation is the national implementation partner for IBM in the implementation of the STEM for Girls India and Vigyan Jyoti programmes, which are reaching nearly 3 lakh children across the country. In September 2021, IBM India, American India Foundation (AIF) and HT Media collaborated to conduct the HT Code-at-hon for 5,000 students from IBM's STEM for Girls India and Vigyan Jyoti programs.
The official sponsors of the Code-a-thon included IBM, Intel, Hindu Tamil Thisai and Lufthansa Airlines. It was a 4-month-long coding programme which commenced on August 31, 2021 and ended with a nation-wide competition. It was divided into three age-appropriate modules: App Development for Grades IV and V, Web Designing for Grades VI and VII and Game Designing for Grades VIII and IX. With over 25,000 students from 2,200 schools all across Indian participating in it, the programme was a grand success. What’s more is that they also walked away with exciting prizes that included laptops and other tech gadgets!
Khushi Kumawat, a student from Ram Gopal Khanna Government Secondary School shares how her Code-a-thon experience opened up the possibility of a career in STEM for herself, “In our school, IBM and AIF organized the HT Code-a-thon under the STEM for Girls India program. I participated in this competition and learnt JavaScript programming, CSS, HTML and Scratch. I also attended the Codeathon qualifier and finale and secured the top position. Although all the questions were in English, I translated them to Hindi and learnt the concepts. I am grateful to IBM and AIF for giving me this opportunity. I will pursue a career in this field in future.” Another student, Tejaswani Jawale from JNV Pune says, “Learning coding through this course was a great experience. Learning a new skill truly contributed to my overall happiness. I also ended up winning a tablet!”
Pawandeep Kumar, a student from JNV Amritsar-1, shares how the Code-a-thon helped him develop an interest in coding, “Coding is just like a mind map. It is the point of interest that expands your knowledge. Through this programme, I caught the coding bug and went on to teach myself HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is useful to know because it teaches us important skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. I am forever grateful for the endless opportunities coding has given me.”
The Code-a-thon provided the participants with an extensive range of study material including video lectures, practice sets and quizzes, which proved to be extremely valuable when it came to deeper, more detailed understanding of coding. “It was a great experience learning through this course. Quizzes helped me to understand the topic better, and the videos were really interesting. I will definitely recommend this course to my friends and relatives,” says Anushka Narwade, a student from JNV Pune.
Vandana Survase, a computer teacher at JNV Pune expresses her gratitude to IBM and AIF for providing her students with the opportunity to participate in the HT Code-a-thon. She credited the programme with instilling a passion for coding amongst her students, “When my students participated in the Code-a-thon, I felt a little bit excited. As the day approached for the first round I was worried as well as excited. But when the first round was over my excitement converted into joy after looking at the amazing performance of my students. They enjoyed the competition a lot. It increased their interest in coding. With the news of the success of the students, I received calls from many parents who wanted to know more about coding classes. The competition has kindled the light of curiosity in the sub urban parents of our school.”
Another computer teacher, Shashi Bhushan from JNV Amritsar-1 explains the importance of coding in today’s times and how HT made its learning more accessible. Bhushan says, “Coding is an essential skill of the current Century. In HT’s Code-a-thon journey, coding classes were well prepared to make it engaging for kids. Imparting skills such as coding and programming in kids during their foundation years is important both educationally and socially. It enhances the problem-solving skills, creativity level, technical knowledge, and logical thinking of the students. Coding connects students with the digital world. Technology is acquiring an inevitable space in the lives of the people. This event is an initiative to inculcate programming skills in school children to empower and create a 21st century mindset. It makes the students ready for a digital world.”
Safe to say, the students had a fantastic experience through the 4-month-long programme which covered not just the theoretical understanding of coding, but also allowed students to apply what they learned.