Johannesburg – Robotics and coding is an important tool in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Although a pilot programme was to be introduced last year, it was halted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which interrupted the school calendar.
This week, the Department of Basic Education’s chief director: media liaison Elijah Mhlanga said the pilot is finally back on course.
The pilot project is for grade R to grade 3 in 200 schools across all provinces, and grade 7 with 1 000 schools.
Mhlanga explained that robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation and application of robots, while coding uses the programming language to get the computer to behave as desired.
Each line of the code is a set of instructions for the computer. A set of codes form a script, and a set or dozens of sets form a program.
He said these skills would open many career doors in the future.
“The pilot is happening now. Lessons learned from the pilot phase will inform the shape and form of implementation,” said Mhlanga.
But the planned phasing in for the subjects is only for 2023 onwards.
“The sector is massive with 12.9-million children, so to introduce a new subject you need to make sure that you test it thoroughly to avoid challenges later.
“Covid-19 delayed the start of the pilot especially with the forced closure of schools last year. The rotational teaching is also creating challenges for curriculum implementation, which is a situation nobody anticipated would occur.”
He said training is being conducted by experts who already have the coding and robotics programmes.
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