Why coding is important for kids

I was going through the news report regarding the new education policy of 2020 and trying to understand the new system and how it is going to improve the education system. A news article titled “Government introduced coding for class 6th onwards”, created a lot of interest in me and started reading about coding in kids. In fact, after going through a lot of articles I concluded that introducing coding in class 6th is the best decision by this government. Now let me able to explain to you why coding is important for kids.

First, what is coding for kids?

Coding is the language of computers. Coding is how we communicate with computers, and it is used to build and run websites, apps, games, etc. Coding for kids is the gathering of opportunities available for children to involve in coding. Coding for kids is usually taught using content that is high interest, like gamified making it fun for kids to learn. Coding in kids is taught various namely, coding summer camps, websites, coding tutors, after school programs, games, etc.

Second why your child needs to learn to code 

Now to answer this question “why”, we need to understand the present job market and unemployment levels of the present graduates in the job market.

The world is changing at such a rapid pace that today's high-paying jobs did not exist even five years ago, and it is difficult to predict what kind of jobs we will be doing in another five years. According to the Future of Jobs Report by the World Economic Forum, 65% of the children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that do not even exist today. The major reason for this change is “Software” or “Technology”.

The current scenario of software learning in the Indian education system.

Since my early childhood people talk about computers and software, but never learned from the school curriculum. I learned computers from private software education providers. At present, in India, as soon as a child gains a little understanding, the first thing the child attracts to is cellphone carried by their parents. They start playing games and they watch cartoons and later play games. But even a high school-age child has very little about what goes on behind the scenes of the apps or website the child is using. Like “they have learned to read but not write”.

The Indian education system promotes rote learning and doesn’t promote curiosity in children to learn. Today’s kids are still learning what I learned in my school days. You may argue that computing is already taught in schools. But computer science textbooks in Indian schools teach history of computer science, hardware, and operating systems or some basic HTML. This learning is obsolete and has no relevance to present-day technologies. How many students in India even after finishing there K12 have at least knowledge of one major programming language familiar with coding.

You may argue that not everyone wants to become a coder or work in IT. But almost every field of work will involve some level of programming in the future. The world is moving towards the automation of almost everything. And automation means using software, apps, and programming to manage data. So whatever the child wants to do maybe doctor/engineer/lawyer/accountant they will need to know coding as a second language. Learning to code is a tool that will help kids understand and appreciate technology and expand their imagination. 

Third, how do we need to prepare our kids for the future? 

The answer to the question “How” is” Coding”. Eminent educationist believes that in a country like India, where the learning system struggle with a shortage of innovation, infrastructure, and curriculum, coding is the best way to introduce children logical thinking and problem-solving. This also solves the problem of unemployment which makes them future-ready where the job market is dominated by data science and computer science jobs. 

 Before the Industrial Revolution, less than 10% of schools taught mathematics. After the turning point, every school introduced mathematics because it was the center of the revolution. Programming skills for us now are what mathematics was for the Industrial Revolution, which was underestimated at the time, but was of immense importance a decade later. Now that we are in the middle of the computer automation revolution and it’s the same circumstance, schools need to realize the importance of coding as a skill. 

To Conclude 

Learning to code is not only about gaining skills for future jobs, but it also helps kids stretch their minds and teaches them critical and logical thinking. With more than half of India’s population is below the age of 25 and more than 65% is younger than 35, India has a huge opportunity ahead to become the intellectual capital of the world.