CHENNAI: A trip to a coding camp in the US opened up possibilities of the field to 14-year-old Krish Samtani, who was immediately hooked.
“I didn’t want to come back from the camp because I was learning so much,” smiles the Bengaluru boy, recently in the city to launch 0Gravity, a free coding club for children between 10 to 15 years. “At the camp, I was exposed to two different kinds of coding, one for game design and the other on mathematics. When I got back home, I searched for coding clubs in the city where I could practice and learn more but there was none!” There were online coding clubs, of course but they did not have enough technical expertise when he got stuck with something.
“I thought it would be a great idea to let kids learn about coding by starting a club where the onus is not just learning but also fun,” Krish says.
0Gravity was first launched in Bengaluru in January with the support of host company Saggezza, and recently launched in Chennai to resounding response. “We’ve got so many registrations that we had to ask many to wait and join the next course, that will start in a few months,” smiles Krish. The 0Gravity coding club will have weekly sessions of two hours each for three months, with each course having 25 participants.
“Our first step is to educate them in HTML and CSS languages which they can then use to make their own small websites,” he says. “After they reach a certain level, we can then move onto Python and other computer languages.”
The course structure and content is designed by employees of Saggezza, who will be doubling as teaching volunteers for the course. As far as his inspiration goes, Krish is quick to tip his hat to his parents. “They have a background in mathematics and statistics; so they inspire me to learn things.
My brother and I were regular users of the Khan Academy platform that teaches online interactive courses!” He has ambitious plans for the future as he talks about a coding revolution in India. “This free coding club has the potential to transform lives; we offer nearly 2.5 lakh hours of coding experience. If we keep adding 25 coders per quarter (100 coders per year) very soon, we can hit a large target that we could be proud off,” he grins.