In a historic move that sets a new benchmark for educational innovation in the country, Kerala has become the first State in the country to mandate robotics education, including hands-on experiments, for all tenth-grade students.

Starting from the new academic year, over 4.3 lakh students across the State will dive into the world of robotics through a revamped ICT (Information and Communication Technology) curriculum.

The new textbook for Class X includes a dedicated chapter titled ‘The World of Robots’, which will equip students with the skills to design circuits, use sensors and actuators, and control electronic devices through computer programming.

The initiative, which is being facilitated by Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), follows the successful introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) learning for all seventh-grade students in the previous academic year. AI learning has also been incorporated into the new ICT textbooks for Classes VIII, IX and X this year.

General Education Minister V. Sivankutty had in March announced the completion of distribution of 29,000 robotic kits to high schools across the state.

Each robotics kit includes components like Arduino breadboards, IR sensors, servo motors and jumper wires. Students will begin by building an automatic hand sanitiser dispenser that detects hand movement, and progress to creating AI-powered smart doors that recognise faces using the ‘Face Detection Built-in Model’ within the Pictoblocks software. The new robotics learning approach aims at assisting students in solving practical problems.

According to KITE chief executive officer and chairman of the ICT Textbook committee, K. Anvar Sadath, the first phase of training is already complete for 9,924 teachers on the new tenth-grade ICT textbook.

Training for teachers

“KITE will arrange training for teachers solely in robotics in July and will also make provisions to provide more robotic kits, including to unaided schools following the state syllabus that require them.”

The ICT textbook is being made available in Malayalam, English, Tamil and Kannada.