Technical Training For School Students To Promote Robotics, AI

New Delhi, June 4: Learning curves have drastically shifted for school students in the past 2.5 years, owing to the Covid-19 induced challenges. But with new challenges comes great opportunities for school goers as they learn new themes via e-learning classroom experiences.

Digital classrooms were introduced and adopted across the country, at every nook and corner when the unprecedented event of Covid-19 hit the world back in 2020. And with this came the need to equip students with smart technologies and reliable communication choices that will be adopted by the current and the future generation. As the country gears up to roll-out 5G, the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, children from the age of seven to seventeen are gaining the maximum from smart technologies to learn designated school curriculum.

The digital age has also peaked curiosity amongst adolescents to explore allied technical skills such as machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, coding, and robotics from a young age. From building drones to designing apps, learning technical skills is no longer confined to those who hold a specialised graduate degree.

Earlier this year, 11-year-old Venkatesh Dempo from Goa won the 'Google Code To Learn Contest' 2022, for creating an app called "Tourism De Goa". Another 11-year-old Viraj Marathe was chosen as a finalist in the same competition for building the app 'Covi Companion' which helps Covid-19 positive patients with their quarantine period. The contest is designed for the students of classes V to XII. India holds the capabilities to create similar young prodigy who can learn, adapt and upskill smart technologies to enter the arena of entrepreneurship.

Both government agencies such as the Ministry of Education, ISRO, and private companies such as TCS, Google, not only host varied competitions to sharpen the technical skills of students at a ripe age, but also impart necessary knowledge to them to spark an interest towards future innovations. The All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) is set to announce its latest initiative 'ABCDEFGHI' on June 6th, that would give the school an opportunity to apply for suitable internships which will train them and teach them upto 30 different technical skills.

Earlier in May this year, it was reported that Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), a school education board, will introduce subjects like robotics, artificial intelligence (Al), machine learning (ML) and data science at ICSE (Classes 9 and 10) and ISC (Classes 11 and 12) levels. With the government focusing on promoting National Education Policy at different institutional levels, curated curriculum on technical education can popularise skill training from a young age.

Since 2020, ed-Tech companies and schools have come together to build a study environment that encompasses both virtual learning and traditional learning experience. Education experts, however, feel that a student's learning journey should not be confined to arts, commerce and linguistics but also include telecommunication, coding, cybertronics, and similar subjects that are overtaking the employment preferences in the job market.