PANJIM: The State government has decided to introduce Coding and Robotics education in two phases, beginning with students of Class VI to VIII, from the current academic year onwards.
The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for partnering to provide infrastructure and operational support to implement ‘Chief Minister’s Coding And Robotics Education in Schools Scheme’ or CM-CARES.
The scheme will be implemented from the upcoming academic year, 2021-22, in government and government aided high schools.
In a press statement issued, DTE said that government will implement the scheme through specially established project monitoring unit.
“The implementation will be in phases, starting with students of Class VI, VII and VIII and in the second phase, it will cover all other classes,” DTE said.
The Government will develop CT/CD laboratories at each Government and Aided schools in a phased manner. These laboratories will be state-of –the art centres with development labs, design studios, prototyping labs, with 3D printers, robotic sets etc.
There are currently, 2,77,227 students enrolled across 1,735 government and aided schools right from primary to higher secondary level.
As per EOI, in Goa, many schools teach students use of word processors and presentation applications as well as some programming languages such as Lego, Scratch, C++ or Java.
As such, the scheme aims to equip students with the skills and knowledge required to navigate the digital world, as well as hone their logical thinking and Computational thinking (CT) which is recognized as one of the key 21st century skills that involves understanding a problem, designing a solution and expressing it in a form that a human or a machine can execute.
“The National Educational Policy 2020 highlighted the importance of mathematical and computational thinking, which can be taught through puzzles and games that make the learning process more enjoyable and engaging,” DTE said.
DTE has decided to conduct rigorous training and workshops in order to prepare the manpower for implementation of the scheme.
