Hyderabad: Government school students turn coders, develop agri-related apps

Hyderabad: Debunking the myth that coding is taught only in international schools, the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) trained 5,000 students of 29 schools at different locations with the help of corporate trainers.

It was organised under the concept named 'Mission Code' introduced in TSWREIS. Project Mission Code is an initiative to encourage both boys and girls learn software coding and leverage technology for problem solving. Thus, the students learn to leverage technologies to solve day today problems and they will also develop analytical skills.

Mega Hackathon, one of India's biggest school Hackathon on village problems in communities surrounding them, was held at locations across the State. Sixty per cent of coders who participated in the Hackathon were girls, 6th to 9th graders who are in the age group of 11 to 14 years.

The students developed an app 'Plantix' Naa Panta(My Crop) helpful for farmers. A farmer needs to take a photo of the pest and the app will automatically read the photo, identify pest and prescribe remedial measures.

Another student developed 'Smart Spectacles' for the benefit of the visually challenged. The blind can go anywhere on their own without any support including the stick.

Siddhu, one of the participants at TSWREIS Itikyal Village, developed Smart Irrigation. He developed a device which ensures better irrigation with less water, least power usage, least water wastage and reduces human effort.

Whenever sensors placed in the soil detect and register dryness, it pumps water automatically. On the reverse side, when it detects sufficient moisture in the soil, it stops the supply of water, he explained.

"My device works based on IoT (Internet of Things,) the 8th grader explained. Vignesh and C Yashwanth have come out with a solution to stop overflow of water tanks in the rural setups and houses.

They developed automatic devices which help avoid such overflows. Even the lights on the street in the farms switch on and off on their own, thus save money on energy for poor farmers.