Kerala mandates robotics education for class 10 students from June
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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has become the first state in India to mandate robotics education for all class 10 students, covering approximately 4.3 lakh pupils, starting from the upcoming academic year beginning June 2. This groundbreaking move integrates robotics into the tenth-grade Information and Communication Technology (ICT) textbook, specifically in the sixth chapter titled "The World of Robots" in the first volume, enabling students to learn fundamental robotics concepts through hands-on activities.
According to K Anvar Sadath, CEO of KITE and Chairman of the ICT Textbook Committee, students will engage in practical tasks such as circuit construction, using sensors and actuators, and controlling electronic devices through computer programming. KITE, the technical arm of Kerala’s General Education Department, has already distributed 29,000 robotics kits to high schools across the state to support the effective implementation of the curriculum.
This initiative builds upon Kerala’s earlier achievement of making Artificial Intelligence (AI) education accessible to all seventh-grade students, a national first introduced in the previous academic year. The AI curriculum has now been extended and included in the ICT textbooks for grades 8, 9, and 10, demonstrating the state’s ongoing commitment to equipping students with future-ready skills.
The robotics curriculum was shaped by the pilot program for Little KITEs, Kerala’s IT club for students, whose practical experiences helped refine the comprehensive rollout for all class 10 students. The first hands-on textbook activity challenges students to use components from the robotics kits—such as Arduino breadboards, infrared sensors, servo motors, and jumper wires—to build an automated sanitizer dispenser that activates upon detecting a hand.
As the course progresses, students will explore the creation of AI-powered smart home automation systems, including smart doors with facial recognition capabilities. Utilizing the 'Face Detection Built-in Model' available in the Pictoblocks software programming IDE, along with webcams on laptops and Arduino kits provided by KITE, students will program mechanisms for automated door opening.
KITE’s innovative robotics education approach aims to equip students with the skills to solve a wide range of practical problems using advanced technologies. To support this, KITE has already completed the first phase of teacher training on the new tenth-grade ICT textbook, training 9,924 educators. Further dedicated robotics training sessions are scheduled for July.
Additionally, KITE plans to provide extra robotics kits to unaided schools that follow the state syllabus and may require additional resources. The ICT textbook will be available to all students in Malayalam, English, Tamil, and Kannada mediums, ensuring broad accessibility across the state.
With PTI inputs