St Mary’s Primary taste a byte of success with digital democracy

REPRESENTATIVES of Raspberry Pi and KCA recently visited St Mary’s Primary School to review the progress and impact of the Digital Democracy coding programme. The launch of this programme through the collaboration of Keep a Child Alive and Raspberry Pi is aimed at making coding and robotics an integral part of the learning curriculum for young learners.

Also read: Durban South teachers crack the code for the future generation

Rujeko Moyo, Code Club Community Coordinator for England, had been working directly with both learners and teachers, observing firsthand the role of the programme in fostering digital literacy and critical thinking.

“Coding is a form of literacy; it is an actual language. It is a skill that we want every child to know as basic as numeracy and literacy is. The world is becoming a very technological space and being able to code should be as basic as one plus two. We have partnered with KCA and other organisations in South Africa and across the world to make sure that coding is as accessible as possible,” she said.

During a live coding session led by the learners’ coding and robotics teacher, Mahen Reddy, the learners put their talents on show. Moyo and the KCA team were impressed by the passion and adaptability of the learners.

Julia Reader, project leader for Digital Democracy, reinforced that skillset was fundamental to the learners’ futures.

“At the moment between six and seven of the top in-demand jobs are within the IT space and if we don’t teach children these skills, we are basically blocking them out of employment,” Reader said.

She added the importance of the Raspberry Pi curriculum, which is already being successfully applied in many schools in England, and wishes to have the same success here in South Africa. Reader also praised the leadership at St Mary’s Primary School for its commitment to technological advances.

“We are so grateful to ML Sultan St Mary’s Primary School for the work that they’ve done, they have such a futuristic mindset in terms of making sure that the children are receiving the education they will need in 10 years time. Just seeing how they’ve taken the bull by the horns and made a way for these children to get the resources they need is inspiring,” she said.

Ramesh Singh, deputy principal of St Mary’s Primary School, thanked the Digital Democracy team for bringing coding and robotics into their classrooms. “The robotics project is in line with our critical thinking skills and preparing our learners for the future through innovative technology-rich learning,” said Singh.

For more Southlands Sun news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.