157 students participate in Bhutan's national competition on coding "CodeMonkey"

Bhutan's Education and Skills Development Ministry conducted an online national coding competition for students who had taken various CodeMonkey courses, an initiative taken by the king, in schools where a total of 157 students participated, The Bhutan Live reported.

The CodeMonkey is an online platform to make coding more fun and engaging for students and was granted by the King in August 2021. In the press release, the Royal society of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (RSSTEM) of the King's Secretariat said that the King has granted Soelra to the children of Bhutan, access to online resources where students can learn coding.

In the competition, the participants were given the freedom to incorporate a theme of their choice while coming up with their games. They were free to design, colour and code the games depending on their creativity. The competition is for the second category of students which includes class seven and eight students. The competition for the first category which has students from classes five and six was held in December, last year.

157 students from various schools across the country took part in the current competition. They have previously learnt coding on the CodeMonkey platform in school as a part of their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) classes. They said that CodeMonkey is helping them enhance their coding skills, reported The Bhutan Live.

One of the participants from Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School, Vivek Pradhan said that he had always loved coding during his free time but never had a proper platform to practice it but with the CodeMonkey, things become easier and can become a programmer.

"Now, CodeMonkey is one of my platforms. Before I thought I would not be able to become a programmer, but now because of CodeMonkey, I think my dream is fulfilled," he said.

Sonam Wangchen Norbu, another participant from Changzamtog Middle Secondary School said that CodeMonkey has helped him gain a lot of experience in coding. "Even my creativity has enhanced and as a person who plays games, it has also helped me a lot. I want to thank His Majesty the King for giving me this opportunity."

CodeMonkey was introduced into the education curriculum in 2021 in schools having classes PP to eight as part of the school ICT curriculum, according to The Bhutan Live.

Meanwhile, the winner of the competition will be announced on His Majesty the King's birth anniversary on Tuesday after an assessment.

( With inputs from ANI )

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