Coding will now be made more fun and engaging in schools with the new coding online platform called CodeMonkey that was presented to the education ministry today. It is a popular online platform that offers paid coding lessons, taught through games. CodeMonkey is His Majesty The King’s soelra to the Bhutanese children. Coding is the process of using computer language to develop applications like games and websites.
After the Royal Society for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (RSSTEM) received Royal Command in February this year to explore interesting educational platforms, CodeMonkey was jointly chosen over several leading platforms in consultation with the education ministry and department of information technology and telecom (DITT).
CodeMonkey makes coding anything but a task for learners by making it visually interesting. With different online challenges and activities, students will develop critical, creative and logical thinking.
Speaking at the launch, Education Minister Jai Bir Rai said, jobs in the future would require skills that can solve complex problems. And skills like critical and creative thinking have to be developed and nurtured in schools.
“One of the strategies is through coding education right from lower primary classes if not even from pre-primary schools.”
The education ministry will roll out the online platform in schools starting next month.
The project director of RSSTEM, Karma Wangdi said, “it will be formed as a part of the ICT curriculum for classes 7 to 8. And will be supplementary learning for other classes. For primary schools and below, it will be rolled out where ever availability of computers and connectivity permits.”
The education ministry, DITT and the RSSTEM, an office under His Majesty’s Secretariat signed a memorandum of understanding for the swift implementation of the programme.
Coding was introduced into the education curriculum last year to encourage students to keep up with the rapidly changing digital world.
Kelzang Choden/ Yeshey Dema
Edited by Sonam Pem
