Among the many who utilised the lockdown period to hone their skills or learn new ones is Etasha Kumari, who has turned into a game developer.
A resident of Kalkaji, eight-year-old Etasha is a Class 4 student of Manav Bharti India International School.
When national lockdown happened, she hadn’t yet purchased her text books. So when all of a sudden the child was restricted to home with no work, it was quite normal for her to get ‘bored’.
“She was totally free, and used to take my laptop to watch videos. That was when I realised that she should join some course, and since she is so much into science and computers I thought of this course offered by WhiteHat,” says Etasha’s father Prabhakar Kumar, an urban town planner.
“Since the time she was very small, computers attracted her. She would often ask me to teach her the designing work I did, and learnt pretty quickly too,” he says.
Kumar enrolled Etasha in an online certificate course on “Coding” through WhiteHat Junior.
WhiteHat Junior is founded by the former employees of the leading companies like Google, Microsoft, Intel, Discovery and Amazon.
It trains children between 6 and 14, in the hi-tech world of computers.
The course helps children learn fundamentals of coding – logic, structure, sequence and algorithmic thinking – to generate creative outcomes like animations and apps.
“The one year course has many levels, and children are given certificates at every level. After completing all eight levels with the top ranking, children also get a chance to visit Silicon Valley, USA and ISRO for an onsite experience of ‘Coding World’,” says Kumar.
“I am doing my first level, which will end on June 30, but I have already developed eight games – Bounce Ball, Control the Drone, Flappy Bird, Birds Hunting for Pie, Collect the Coins, Humpty Dumpty’s Health, and Square Calculator,” says a visibly-happy Etasha.
“It is year-long course, but in just two-weeks time, I completed two levels and developed various games through coding, completing the project in the shortest time possible, so I got the certificate for the world’s young certified game developers,” she adds.
Other than computers, Etasha is into swimming and dancing and is an ace skater with a couple of prizes in her kitty. Though her interests keep varying, one thing which she is very sure of is becoming a scientist when she grows up.