School children to be given computer programming kits

Kochi: In a pioneering project designed to create a resource pool of skilled future IT professionals and entrepreneurs, around 2,500 school children across the state will be given computer programming kits and taught to code.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will launch the pilot phase of the Kerala government's 'Learn to Code' project on February 21, under which 2,500 selected school students will be given Raspberry Pi computer kits and trained by IT experts to programme, a press release said here today.

The Raspberry Pi distribution is the first such project in India and currently the only state-sponsored programme of its kind in the world. It is being implemented by Technopark Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI) in association with Kerala's IT@School project and Kochi-based mobile-internet technology incubator Startup Village.

Industries and IT Minister, P K Kunjalikutty and IT Principal Secretary, P H Kurian will be among the dignitaries at the state-level inauguration of the project at North Paravur. Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb will deliver a special address via video conferencing.

The computers will be distributed simultaneously to the selected students in all districts of the state. The inaugural will be followed by a training session handled by the faculty of IT@School. It will be telecast live to all district venues of IT@School via the Victers education channel.

The government, under the scheme, plans to distribute 10,000 kits annually to students, primarily in eighth standard, and follow it up with focussed training/mentoring sessions and competitions.

"IT is one of the growth engines of Kerala's economy and the project has been launched with the long-term goal of making our state a global technology hub in the coming years," said Kunjalikutty. "We have a very strong education system and exceptionally talented youngsters, so we want to catch them young and instill in them a culture of experimentation and innovation".