Goa will lead nation in robotics education: CM

Says interest of students is growing in the field

Panaji: Claiming that Goa is ahead of information technology (IT) hubs like Bengaluru and Pune, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said Goa will lead the country in robotics education. He also said Goa is marching towards self-reliance in technical education.

The Chief Minister was speaking at an event organised to launch educational resources and products of Coding and Robotics Education in Schools scheme (CARES) and distribute prizes to the winners of Goa Codes 2024 competition.

Sawant said Goa has emerged as a trailblazer by becoming the first state to introduce a programme like CARES, which has been implemented across 442 schools in the state, benefitting 65,000 students.

“In the academic year 2024-25, 10,000 students are actively shaping their future through the CARES elective curriculum. This initiative is a significant step towards achieving self-reliance in technical education,” he said.

Sawant also said that not a single engineering seat will be left vacant in the state in the next two years due to the growing interest of students in schemes like coding and robotics education. He stressed on preparation of syllabus that will create employment opportunities for the youth.

The CARES Edu-Tech resources include a comprehensive set of tools such as ICT (information and communications technology) elective curriculum handbooks for classes VI, VII and VIII, design journals, worksheets, a robotics hardware kit and modules on programming, foundational data science and artificial intelligence.

Bebras India Challenge 2024, an international computational competition, and Goa Codes 2024 competition were held recently under CARES.

In the Bebras India Challenge, Goa shined with four first ranks, and 22 Goan students ranked in the top 100.

The Goa Codes 2024 competition, which was conducted in three phases at leading schools at the taluka and state levels, saw an overwhelming participation of over 4,200 students.

The Chief Minister felicitated Master Amol Naik of Murgaon High School, Sada, and Master Aditya Naik of Shantadurga High School, Bicholim, by awarding them the CARES Creative Content Creator 2024 awards.

Education secretary Prasad Lolayekar, IAS, Director of Technical Education Dr Vivek Kamat, Director of Education Shailesh Zingade, nodal officer for CARES Dr Vijay Borges and other dignitaries were present at the Friday event.