SINGAPORE: 11-year-old Muhammad Arshad would rather play with Legos at Google’s Singapore’s office than sit still for an interview. But touch on his passion for coding and why he joined Google’s Code in the Community Programme, and his attention is all yours.
“I want to learn more about coding. Especially (the programming language) Scratch, which can be used to make games. Because it’s fun to play those games,” said the Sembawang Primary School Student, who is also among the first 500 kids to be enrolled in the programme.
Arshad’s current inspiration is the mobile phone game Dream League Soccer, and its accurate portrayal of the beautiful game digitally – from how balls are dribbled, the free kicks made and the penalties saved. But after 10 weeks of programming his own projects under Google’s tutelage, he appears to appreciate the sheer amount of effort that goes into coding seemingly simple actions and animations.
“That would be extremely hard! Since these (Google) projects already have such long scripts, can you imagine the more developed game,” said Arshad. “It’ll take the hardest of skills!”
Google’s 20-week programme is a multi-level computer science education initiative for children aged 8 to 15, and is funded by the tech giant with support from the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), the Eurasian Association (EA), Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) and Yayasan Mendaki. Together, they aim to enable 3,000 kids from less-well-off backgrounds to develop computational thinking and skills for a possible future career in technology.
Student participants in Google’s Code in the Community programme at the Google Asia Pacific offices. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
To be eligible, students would need to be a beneficiary of the four self-help groups, or means-tested as a low-income family by the groups. They may also be eligible if they are currently under the Ministry of Education’s Financial Aid Scheme.
Speaking at an event marking the completion of the programme’s first term on Saturday (May 20), Google Asia Pacific’s Director of People Operations D N Prasad said plans were in place to further scale the programme to the wider community.
“(It’s) also for us to bring in the diversity and make this truly inclusive in the Singapore community. So the invites have been sent to all the other schools and we do hope that the initial success and then the results, the positive results that we will show, will encourage more people to come and work with us in the future,” said Mr Prasad.
“We’re trying to drive (this) long-term, with a long-term vision. It doesn’t matter who’s driving it – there needs to be just many players with the right intent and heart in the right place. And it’s our way of adding to the community and playing our part in the community as well as in partnership with everything the Government is doing or other institutions might be working on as well.”
SINDA President Indranee Rajah, who paid the students a visit, said coding was something that students should acquire naturally through fun and play so that it becomes an integral part of life.
Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law Indranee Rajah participates with students at the Google Asia Pacific offices. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
“We didn’t want to put it as part of the formal school curriculum because that makes it yet another subject that you have to learn and test and be marked for. You don’t want to do that – you want it in the context of play,” said Ms Indranee, who is also Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law.
“If you expose somebody at a young age, you allow them the freedom to absorb this and to play with it and to let them create with it, it just becomes something that is an inherent skill. And hopefully as they go forward in life, they will not have any fear of IT, of coding, and they will be well equipped for the future economy.”
Ms Indranee also highlighted grassroots and Government efforts such as Tiong Bahru Community Centre’s subsidised coding course for kids, as well as the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Digital Maker Programme.
GREATER EXPOSURE NEEDED IN SCHOOLS: PARENTS
Parents Channel NewsAsia spoke with appreciated the opportunity to allow their child greater exposure to computing and programming literacy. Some pointed out that just a handful of schools offered computing and programming – whether as part of the formal syllabus or not.
“If they can introduce this into the schools it’ll be good. But if (students) have to go out to learn it, parents may say the pocket’s a bit tight,” said Gary Siriniwas, a father who sent his 10- and 12-year-old children for Google’s course.
Gary Siriniwas (R) is introduced to a micro:bit, used by his children participating in the programme. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
Lessons or training pitched at younger students or beginners by local third-party external groups could range from S$150 for six sessions to thousands of dollars for in-depth courses, according to checks by Channel NewsAsia.
“If they can put it in the schools and then charge it as part of school fees, people will do it. And we must do it or we’ll be left behind,” said Mr Siriniwas. “It’s just like what China does – they get their children at five-years-old, teach them gymnastics, they become the world’s best. We can adopt the same thing – train them up at a small age, and then they’ll be one of the best people in the world in future. “
Jess Eng, who enrolled her 15 year-old-daughter in Google’s programme, said she agreed that there is merit in introducing programming and computing as an examinable subject for the Primary School Leaving Examination – as an optional subject for students with potential.
“You see the technology – you can’t live without a phone these days. So it’s very different from our time 20 years back, our parents’ time,” said Ms Eng. “You should forsee down the road, what you should be doing for your kids.”
Registration for the 2018 cohort of the Code in the Community Programme will open at the end of the year.
Interested parties can visit www.CodeInTheCommunity.com for more information.
