More Indian School Kids Know Coding Compared With US; Indian Teen Awarded By Google For Creating Path breaking App
Things are wrong in India, no doubt. Public welfare system is broken, Govt. machinery often fails to deliver results, and fights break out on trivial issues. But still, there is something which drives, motivates us to achieve the impossible, and to shock the world.
Despite economic challenges, low income and harsh conditions, India has beaten US when it comes to creating young coding wizards. In a report created by Barclays, it was revealed that India produces 10x more school children with coding skills compared to US.
‘Barclays Digital Development Index’ attempted to calculate digital readiness of 10- major economies of the world by finding the strength of their workers in terms of digital skills and digital empowerment.
The report said, “India produces the most school pupils with coding skills – almost 10 times as many as the US.”
However, the area where India lacks is a solid public Digital policy and framework, which is causing a wastage of this immense talent. For instance, although more Indian school-kids know coding, the percentage which passes out from high school is dismal, almost lowest in the overall ranking.
Overall, out of 10 countries and 10,000 workers surveyed, India was ranked 7th in terms of digital preparedness and readiness to combat the new-age economy. Although we beat US, UK, Germany in terms of digital coding and creation skills, we are very much low on broadband access and policy framework which can create a level playing field for all.
Here is the combined ranking:
- Estonia
- South Korea
- Sweden
- UK
- China
- US
- India
- Germany
- Brazil
- South Africa
Some interesting findings from the report:
- 37% of workers in India are comfortable in creating websites, compared to just 16% in UK
- 32% Indian workers use tools to auto-generate passwords for secure logins, compared to just 13% in UK
- Estonia and South Korea are world’s leading countries in providing vocational trainings to their citizens for digital empowerment
You can find the complete report here.
Indian Teen Awarded By Google
In a related news, as if to confirm the findings of Barclays report, Google has just awarded a 14 year old Indian school student for creating an app which provides a solid navigation system for fishermen.
Advay Ramesh, a class 10th student from Chennai was awarded Google’s Community Impact Award for his GPS powered app which can safeguard fishermen’s lives during rough weather, and provide a cost-effective, technologically robust solution for sea navigation.
Ramesh is one of the 20 finalists who were shortlisted to fight for $50,000 scholarship at the Google Science Fair 2016.
Ramesh has coined the term FishErmen Lifeline Terminal (FELT) for this creation, and his ultimate dream is to convert this app into a handheld device, which can use India’s very own Standard Position System, which is based on ISRO’s IRNSS navigation system.
Right now, FELT uses Google Maps for providing the base of sea navigation system.
Details related to Ramesh’s invention can be found here.
