Pre-schools get gadget savvy inbid to woo kids

Chennai: “Do you wonder how kids aged 15 get internships at Facebook and Nasa?” reads an advertisement on the social media page of a new

pre-school

. Promising to ‘integrate students with robotics from age 2 onwards’, the institution is one of a new breed of pre-schools seeking to go one up on their more traditional counterparts.

With their sights set on next year’s admissions, playschools are taking the tech-savvy route to educate children as young as two. A school in Velachery, for instance, exposes pre-schoolers to smart devices, robotics and even gets them to try their hand at 3D printing and doodling.

While tech-based learning is not alien to the Indian schooling system, orienting children as young as 2-3 with such tools raises several questions. Government projects like the recently commissioned 81 ‘Atal tinkering laboratories’ under the Niti Aayog scheme aim to bring new tech trends to students but their focus is on older children between the ages of 12-18 (Classes VI-XII).

Some institutions like Eurokids which have also taken the same route maintain that they use a tech-based curriculum only as an add-on to their general curriculum and don’t reorient the way children learn the basics.

“We use Microsoft Kinect and VR technology to help children understand shapes for example. Using a sensor, the motion of their hands is replicated on a screen. As the children are already exposed to technology at their homes, they pick up concepts very fast when taught through tech tools,” says S Aishwarya, director, Eurokids Mylapore. She adds that this is only one tool of learning and the centres also try to impart physical and tactile learning tools to strike a healthy balance.

Experts in child psychology maintain that as many as 40% of students in this age group have some degree of learning disability, even if it is not startling enough to be diagnosed, and this may go unidentified by introducing technology tools to them early on.

“While technology can be a fun way to learn and can keep children engrossed, children don’t develop motor and language skills until the age of five and hence need human intervention in all stages of learning,” says BS Virudhagirinathan, adding that increased exposure to tech is more harmful than useful in the long run.

“Machines can make learning mechanical, curbing writing and motor skills which is why teachers can never be replaced. Gadgets should only be introduced to kids after the age of five ideally,” he adds.


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