Google Is Bringing First Grass-Root Level Coding Program To Pakistan

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Google First Program Pakistan

Google’s CS First program is soon coming to Pakistan. The aim of this program is to inculcate skills related to computer programming skills among the country’s young students.

For launching this program at a countrywide level, Pakistan’s Ministry of IT and Telecom has collaborated with Google to launch the first grass-root level Coding Skills Development Program. Google’s program is mainly based on the CS First Program of Google (a global initiative for coding skills).

The announcement was made by Pakistan’s Ministry of IT and Telecom on its official Twitter account on Wednesday.

A statement by the ministry said, “The aim of the program is to develop applied coding skills using gamification techniques for kids between 9 and 14 years of age”.

The platform that would be utilized in this regard is known as “Scratch” (MIT’s developed and researched tool).

Also Read: PM Imran Khan Convinces Tania Aidrus To Quit Google Job For Betterment Of Pakistan

Being Google’s official partner, Tech Valley Pakistan would assist the Ministry of IT and Telecom with its roll-out program.

In the program’s first phase, the Telecom Foundation Schools would reap significant benefits from this initiative. This would comprise of 13 schools globally to be followed by cohorts that are bigger in the next few phases.

The program is split into two parts. One would be the ‘Train the Trainer’. This follows the students’ orientation on the said platform. Google’s program would help the TF Schools for the development of an interlinked curriculum to adopt the course on a consistent basis.

Overview of Google’s CS First Program

Google’s CS First provides free and easy-to-use enrichment materials on computer science that can help to engage a diverse student population in grades 4-8 (ages 9-14).

Facilitators can use video content to teach kids coding basics with Scratch. The CS First program is available online.

Source: medium.com

A class consists of one or more CS First curriculum activities. There are two types of activities: one-hour and multi-day. One-hour activities teach students the basics of Scratch and block-based coding. They are beneficial for anyone who is new to coding and also for special one-day events. This could include conferences or Hour of Code.

One-hour activities are usually short 45-75 minutes of standalone activities. These activities can help students to start and complete a coding project in one session.

Multi-day activities help students to find their interests. These activities tend to vary in complexity. They help students to learn core computer science concepts across several sessions. The multi-day activity comprises of eight activities and has almost 10-12 hours of content.

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