Pi Jam Foundation - Making Computer Science Education More Equitable
“Just like coding is a subset of CS, Computational thinking refers to the cognitive part of science. Teaching ‘computational thinking’ does not necessarily require gadgets,” says Shoaib Dar, founder of Pi Jam. “It also does not involve trying to get us to think like computers but rather is the way humans solve problems. Equipped with computing devices, we use our cleverness to tackle problems that may be beyond our physical capacities. Computational thinking, hence, refers to the intellectual, human problem-solving process that shapes technology.”
According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, 65% of the children going into primary school today are likely to end up in jobs that do not currently exist. Another employability report by Aspiring Minds found 80% of Indian engineers were unemployable for lack of new-age skills, and only 3% of them have tech skills in areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning, or data science.
Pi Jam recognizes the digital divide in computer science education in India
Unless every child has access to good quality computer science education, the digital divide and the gap in problem-solving and future skills is likely to remain wide, especially among kids from the public schools versus private schools. Functional participation in jobs, careers, opportunities, and community development will depend on these problem-solving and computational skills. Introducing computer science education can also increase engagement; improve academic participation in public schools; increase access to global experts and fuel creativity and innovation.
The Government of India is waking up to the increasing scope of computer science education, which reflects in its new education policy. “While students must have a large amount of flexibility in choosing their individual curricula, certain subjects, skills, and capacities should be learned by all students to become good, successful, innovative, adaptable, and productive human beings in today’s rapidly changing world.
In addition to proficiency in languages, these skills include scientific temper and evidence-based thinking; creativity and innovativeness; a sense of aesthetics and art; oral and written communication; health and nutrition; physical education, fitness, wellness, and sports; collaboration and teamwork; problem-solving and logical reasoning; vocational exposure and skills; digital literacy, coding, and computational thinking; ethical and moral reasoning…” the policy states.
Programming classes currently are available to kids who can afford an internet connection, electricity, access to schools, have the ability to pay for these classes, and have a device. And given that only 8.5% of kids have internet access in India; this threatens to widen the skills gap in the country. There is also a crying need for a curriculum update contextualized for Indian kids in the languages they are familiar with and enough teachers with the necessary skills to teach coding/programming to kids, going beyond the basic serving of Paint and Excel sheets.
How is Pi Jam championing computer science education for all?
Commercial players cannot fill this gap, their reach being mostly urban and goals profit-driven. This gap is being bridged by non-profits that provide low-cost solutions like Pi Jam Foundation which works towards making computer science education accessible, innovative and fun for kids in government schools, using tools and platforms like Raspberry Pi, Code.org, or Khan Academy.
Many public schools have started working with organizations like Pi Jam to bring in coding classes for children, beginning with setting up low-cost computer labs (that the foundation calls Pi Labs) using open-source hardware and software like Raspberry Pi and Scratch, to address the infrastructure and access problems. For example, Pi Jam is working with state governments, DIEs, and corporations including Zilla Parishad Pune, Samagra Shiksha J&K, and 300 other public schools to provide a contextualized curriculum for computer sciences.
Pi Jam has come up with a 50-hour computing curriculum for each grade that is shared with the schools in the form of teacher modules and sample lesson plans. The curriculum is designed to progress from using visual coding tools like Scratch, Python, HTML etc, and applying it across subjects like Maths, Science, Geography and even English. The teachers’ training focuses on getting teachers comfortable with the tech tools and platforms used in the curriculum like Raspberry Pi, Scratch and Python, with regular training and debriefing sessions held around the year to enable and upskill the teachers.
A lot of the existing computing curriculum makes coding more difficult than it has to be for these kids. Pi Jam tries and makes complex devices easier to use with a database of ready-to-use APIs, so children can focus on problem-solving rather than having to just learn more lines of code. For areas where access to the internet is a problem, Pi Jam has come up with computer science ‘Unplugged kits’ that use activities to hone computational thinking without the need for devices.
“We believe that computer labs need to be spaces that allow students to explore, experiment, tinker and create,” says Shoaib Dar, educator and founder, Pi Jam Foundation. “At a school or foundational level, kids should not necessarily aspire to be coders or developers or that’s not how we see their aspirations as. All they need to be is creative problem-solvers.”
Democratizing Computer Science Education
Pi Jam has been working to popularize problem solving and Computer Science through campaigns like Code Mela, where children and teachers are introduced to the world of coding through a mobile app Code Mitra, which is free and tailor-made for regional users in hour-long sessions. It is an open-source app for children to learn block-based coding in Hindi where the goal is to understand basic programming and Computer Science concepts; analyze daily life in algo terms.
“Seeing the amazing work Pi Jam Foundation has done to reach students impacted by COVID-19 school closures is just another reminder of how important their work is now more than ever,” says Priya Nazare, Principal, Sardar Kanhoji Angre School, Pune. “They’re making computer science education engaging and relevant for so many young people who wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn otherwise.”