Main content

Should children learn to code at a young age?

Tech-savvy kids are getting into coding in increasingly large numbers, but is there a hidden cost to be paid?

Algorithms drive most industries today, from medicine to manufacturing, finance and even the legal profession. Everyone uses code that makes their work 鈥 and lives 鈥 easier.

It鈥檚 a lucrative career option, especially here in India, and tech-savvy kids are getting into coding in increasingly large numbers. Children as young as 5 to 7 years old are learning to write code, and even build apps. In India, the new national education policy has also tried to give a big push to coding at junior school level, calling it a 鈥渟kill of the future鈥.

But is there a hidden cost to be paid by starting coding so early? Is there an ideal age when young people can start learning to code? In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss whether children should learn to code at a young age.

Presenter: Devina Gupta
Contributors: Shivansh Gupta, coder; Vikrant Singh Rana, coder; Anshul Bhagi, CEO, Camp K12; Dr Upasana Chaddha, psychologist

Available now

26 minutes

Last on

Sun 28 Nov 2021 05:32GMT

Image credit

Children look at computer code on a laptop screen (Credit: Getty Images)

Broadcasts

  • Fri 26 Nov 2021 15:32GMT
  • Sat 27 Nov 2021 01:32GMT
  • Sat 27 Nov 2021 11:32GMT
  • Sun 28 Nov 2021 05:32GMT

Podcast