What's all the hype about Coding for Kids?
Let’s directly answer the pressing questions many of you might have without beating around the bush!
Why suddenly everyone is talking about teaching Coding to Kids?
In August’2020, Ministry of Education released much awaited New Education Policy. There was a paragraph which mentioned that coding as a formal education will be incorporated from as early as 6th std. in schools. This gave rise to numerous start-ups in teaching coding to kids.
**Is coding really that important for kids? **
It is not coding, its what kids learn through coding that is important. Kids learn creative thinking, structured approach to problem-solving through coding. For example, Srushti observed that her grandma missed taking medicine for a couple of days making her sick again. Her grandmother is not literate so she couldn’t read which medicine to take at what time on the prescription. Srushti built an app to remind her grandma about taking the medicines. She built a feature to add medicine pic which will show at the pre-defined times to grandma making it easy for her to take the medicines. Now here the problem was small, if it wouldn’t have been for the coding knowledge and platform, Srushti would’ve let go of this problem.
In the future, the coding can truly act as a complementary skillset. For example, we all know the Arogya Setu app which helped us during the COVID pandemic. Now the doctors knew the COVID symptoms and how to check it, but they couldn’t build the app. Engineers were invited to build the app based on the inputs provided by the doctors. So in the new age, if a student decides to pursue the medical field and knows about coding. They can build such apps on their own.
One more example could be PharmEasy app, which lets you order medicine online and get it delivered to your doorstep. It comes handy to a sick person who can’t go out to take medicines. If you have knowledge of pharmacy and coding you could build a similar solution.
**Can knowledge of coding really give Crores of rupees as a salary to kids? **
That is not true at all! Wolf Gupta was an imaginary kid made up by Whitehat Jr for a marketing gimmick. It is not true that kids get such high pay if they learn to code and also it is not ethical to leave out their formal education and expect them to earn.
Can coding help my kid become an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is someone trying to use an innovative idea to solve a problem which might have a positive impact on millions of people. Now coding can make students problems solver. If one of this solution is perfectly suitable and intuitive enough then it may take off. But always remember that there is a number of people who are in search of innovative ideas and they can also build these solutions/apps/websites overnight. Additionally, to build a business, not only coding but management skills and in most cases tremendous financial resources may be required. So it is not a sure-shot path.
Is it really worth to pay Lakhs of rupees for the kids coding course?
NOPE! It is really not that expensive. Actually, the coding course is available for the free of cost on websites like
- Code.org
- Grasshopper
- Youtube videos etc. DebugsBunny provides the course for as low as 1000 Rs. per month
When should kids start learning to code?
Students can start from a very young age but it is suggested that they start from the age of 10-11 Years. This will give them a good time to get used to the technology and explore things on their own. But it is not essential. They can start at any time.
What do the experts have to say about this NEP and all the buzz about Catch them Young philosophy about teaching coding?
You can read more about the views and opinions HERE
These views are quite apt about NEP and inclusion of coding in it.
If you have any more questions feel free to write to us on sumitsingare@debugsbunny.com