Schools Say Hi To Coding, Incorporate It In Their Curriculums

Developing a prowess in technology has become a key ingredient in making one’s career successful. It’s a fact no one can deny. Saying, “I am so bad with technology” isn’t going to speak well of you. Companies and their employers today look for a complete package when hiring individuals. Having a sound command over technology is one of the skills that is going to put you in a good light. Especially if you are wanting to pursue a career in software engineering, information technology or data analytics; careers that are immensely popular will make coding very essential. 

This said, there are multiple institutes and e-learning websites that are providing coding courses that you can enrol for. Sitting through these courses, however, can sometimes become tedious as school/college lectures and assignments or extracurricular activities can come in the way. Nevertheless, there is good news on the way. Schools have taken a note of this, and have decided to incorporate coding in their curriculum. 

The CBSE board recently announced its collaboration with Microsoft for bringing in the coding and data science course for the benefit of the students. Keeping in mind the objectives of the newly set up National Education Policy of 2020, CBSE has taken this decision. The board stated that incorporating the two courses into the curriculum will help students in developing critical thinking, build computational skills, problem-solving skills, boost creativity, and provide hands-on exposure to new technologies. This way the students will be well equipped with the next-generation skills.

Students of classes 6-8 will have coding classes and from the 8th to 12th standard, students will have data science classes.  Since this is going to be implemented in collaboration with Microsoft for the academic year 2021-2022, the company has also drafted supplementary handbooks for both courses that complement the NCERT patterns and structures. These books have mentioned real-life examples to make understanding complex concepts simpler and also to build exposure to the ethical dimensions. 

In addition to this, Microsoft has also agreed to provide its open-source platform named Microsoft MakeCode which will help students learn better in a gamified manner across all subjects like social sciences, languages and mathematics. It will also enable students in building the foundation for AI-based applications of data science. 

CBSE  has taken a huge and indeed remarkable step towards its students’ bright future. Similarly, it is expected that the other educational boards too begin taking steps in a similar direction. Acknowledging this positive move, India’s education minister tweeted, “Under #NEP2020, we promised to introduce coding & data science in schools. Today, I’m happy to see #CBSE fulfilling the promise right in the session of yr 2021 itself. In association with @Microsoft, @cbseindia29 is empowering India’s future generations with new-age skills. Kudos”