Such misleading and impractical advertisements have drawn the ire of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), said Pokhriyal. (Image by Pexels/ representational) Some of the Edtech platforms have been asked to takedown advertisements setting “impractical and misleading expectations” related to coding education, the Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank informed the Rajya Sabha.
While answering a question of “misleading” advertisements by some of the “EdTech companies” concerning teaching coding to young kids, the minister informed that the Ministry of Education was aware of this and was taking appropriate steps.
Coding for kids had seen a massive jump during the pandemic. “Coding for kids” was one of the most searched phrases under how-to section of Google in 2020. While the government recognises coding as a subject and recommends schools to teach the same, currently, mostly edtech platforms are offering studies in the domain.
Replying to the question raised in Parliament, Pokhriyal said, “There are certain companies which started advertising inappropriate ads misleading the customers. These ads were related to teaching coding to young children with impractical and misleading expectations.
The Ministry of Education has taken certain steps to educate the people about the false claims made by such companies in their advertisements.”
“Such misleading and impractical advertisements have drawn the ire of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) which has asked the specific companies to take down those advertisements as they violate the Self-Regulatory Body’s code. The ASCI has issued advertising guidelines for educational institutes and courses. Also, the Ministry of Education has directed the State Governments to educate the stakeholders about the practicality and feasibility of such courses,” he added.