Leicestershire boy's coding award after lockdown boredom

Akhil Akella, eight, says he took up coding during lockdown last year because he was "bored"

An eight-year-old boy who took up coding during lockdown has been recognised by his school for developing gaming apps based around lessons.

Akhil Akella, from Leicestershire, creates the educational software at home, taking the cue from classroom topics.

The Year 3 pupil, from Greystoke Primary School in Narborough, has now won an award from the school's trust.

He said the recognition meant his time spent coding had "paid off".

Computer code is a set of rules or instructions, made up of words and numbers that - when put into the right order - will tell your computer what you want it to do.

Akhil said he began watching videos on how to do it last year.

"I got into coding last lockdown because I was so bored," he said.

After returning to school, he started developing apps based on subjects he was learning - such as maths and the solar system - and then shared them with friends and teachers.

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Akhil was nominated for the trust's Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) award by his head teacher, competing with 12 other schools to land the prize.

"I am super excited to win the award," he said.

"All the time and effort I have spent on coding has paid off. I will try to win next year too."

Big dreams

Akhil - who has researched computer giants Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - said his ambition was to invent a smart car using artificial intelligence to reduce the amount of crashes.

He said: "I dream of a world with zero road accidents."

His father, an IT engineer, said Akhil was inspired after he saw a crash on the motorway.

The eight-year-old's ultimate dream is to launch a company developing all sorts of smart devices.

"A smart house, smart fridge, smart watches, smart everything," he said.

"So you don't have to cook the food yourself, or switch on the light or open the door with your keys - if you want to open the door, you just use an eye scanner."