Technology has turned tables to such an extent that kids are teaching elders how to use apps and games have become a common sight.
Moreover, it has been found that younger and younger kids have taken to coding like fish to water. Playing godfather to these curious minds is WhiteHat Jr., an ed-tech startup that assists kids between age six to 14 years to build commercial-ready games, animations and apps by teaching them the fundamentals of coding online.
Talking about the geniuses of the startup, Founder Karan Bajaj says he got this idea while reading up on the Industrial Revolution and how the generation then wasn’t in sync with the latest developments.
“I find the situation similar to today as the curriculum in schools isn’t as advanced as the technology we use. They teach nothing around coding if at all, it is very basic. There is also research around how kids are in their creative best at the age of five.”
According to him, coding gives kids the power to experiment, think and create.
Everything is on the cloud and the platform connects the teachers, trained with a specific curriculum to the students. The whole curriculum covers 144 classes, consumed over two classes a week. However, the classes are flexible depending on the children.
While the startup is just a year old, it has already connected with children across India, training them to develop apps on what they find interesting. Here’s profiling four such whizkids:
Chat and exchange books
Vihaan Khera, 9, from Gurugram has developed an app called Book Barter that enables people to communicate and exchange books. Khera himself is an avid reader and that too, a fast one. Having the zeal to read more got him to create this app. “The app will register the users, who can then choose either to offer a book or borrow a book. On choosing to borrow a book, all the book information will be displayed. The user can then click on the book image to show the details and can request to borrow a book. This will, in turn, open a message box to send an email to the lender,” explains Khera.
Finish task, earn rewards
Venkat Raman Patnaik, 6, from Odisha, has developed a Reward Management System for kids that keeps a record of a ‘to-do’ list for each user with reward points for each. “Both my parents and teachers give me rewards on the completion of a task so I thought why not make an app to keep track of the tasks. Behavioural, educational, health and hygiene, and household chores are the four different criteria in the app under which there is a list of activities.” It took Patnaik just 15 days to complete it. He has also created another quiz app in just 10 days.
Learn the basics of sign language
Hirranyaa Rajani, 7, has developed an app for the hearing impaired enabling them to learn the basics of sign language. “Once, while I was walking outside school, I noticed some people communicating in a manner that I didn’t understand. It was later that my mother told me this was sign language. I then came up with the idea of creating an app that will help me to communicate with hearing-impaired people,” said Mumbai-based Rajani, who enjoys playing games and wants to become a professional programmer.
A space shared by teachers, students and parents
Seeing his keen interest in technology, Shaurya Sharma’s mother introduced him to WhiteHat Jr. to use his skills in a more constructive manner. The 12-year-old from Mumbai, is currently developing a Chatbot for his school that will provide parents with necessary information on school admissions. “Here, one can type in a question and the keywords will be used to answer the same. Along with it, I’m working on an app that will allow better communication between the students, teachers and parents.”