Goa: This Diwali, students code greeting cards

PANAJI: After over two years of the pandemic, even as people returned to the practice of visiting one another and celebrating the festivals together, students from Goa have created virtual Diwali greetings by coding.
“The lantern and diya symbolise freedom from darkness, so I decided to make a virtual card of these which can be exported as an image. It can be shared on all social media platforms and communication apps,” said 14-year-old Susan Pereira, a student of Holy Family High School.
“In my neighbourhood, a lot of people burst crackers to celebrate Diwali, however, in the digital world, it makes more sense to share greetings without wasting energy to power a lantern or polluting the air,” said another student.
As part of the revamped information and communication technology (ICT) syllabus under the recently launched CARES scheme, students of Classes VI, VII and VIII are being taught text-based coding on ‘Kojo’ software and drag and drop software ‘Scratch’.
“People can either share the software file or send it by email. Alternatively, they can also take a screenshot,” said Sampada Dhupkar, a computer teacher who guided the students.
The six government and government-aided schools, students of which have created virtual Diwali greetings, are Holy Family High School, Porvorim, St Joseph’s Institute, Vasco, Murgaon High School, Sada, Shree Ram Vidhya Mandir, Colvale, The New Educational Institute, Curchorem, and St Joseph’s Institute, Vasco.
“It is great to see that just as diyas light up the surroundings, so is computational thinking lighting up creativity among students,” said Megha Nayak, project officer, Project Management Unit, directorate of technical education.