Developing a mobile based application for feature phones to teach children in rural area how to code

ABSTRACT It is important that while the world moves towards a digital age, people around the world build fluency in communicating with computers. In order to remain relevant, programming skills are highly necessary in the 21st century. In order to create such a culture, starting from the children is a step in the right direction. Teaching programming to children in schools has become just as necessary as teaching them Mathematics, English or Science. In developing countries however, children are being left behind for two reasons; educational curriculums that do not support this new wave and systems that are not well structured or resourced to tackle this issue. Nevertheless, it is necessary that children learn to program, however, it is even more important that children are taught to program in the way that they learn best, not the way that may be traditionally accepted. The paper discusses a tool that has been developed on feature phones to teach children in rural areas, in the upper primary level how to code.