Starter Kit. Idea 327 of 500. Cluster 16
Coding clubs for schoolchildren in the districts, run by returning graduates
The mechanism, from the book
177,000 qualify every year and 45,000 get a place. The other 130,000 are a market that nobody has built for, and the polytechnic is not a second choice when it leads to a job.
The first step
Offer one school in a district a free weekly coding club for a term, run on donated or borrowed laptops, and ask a returning graduate to lead it. At the end, show parents what the children built and ask whether they would pay a small fee for the next term. Enough paying parents to cover the graduate's time is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A parent in a district town who wants their child to learn coding and will pay a monthly fee for a club with a real teacher.
- What leaves today
- Graduates who return have skills that district schools lack, and children who never meet a programmer rarely become one.
Ask first
- the Divisional Secretariat. Ask which schools in the division could host a weekly club.
- Data Protection Authority. Ask what consent is needed to photograph children and share their work.
Check before you spend
Written permission from the school, parents' consent for every child, a safeguarding plan, and who is responsible for laptops lent to the club.
Find out these three numbers
- What fee per term would parents pay for the club?
- What does a returning graduate want for one evening a week?
- How many laptops are needed for one club?
A comparison from the book
Switzerland and India. Chapter Sixteen
"bring the second generation, the Swiss-trained tradespeople of Sri Lankan origin, into Sri Lanka's training centres as instructors and examiners"
People trained abroad who teach at home pass on the standard, not only the facts.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.