Ludhiana teen tech prodigy Namya Joshi to deliver keynote at edtech event

LONDON: Namya Joshi, a 16-year-old tech prodigy from Ludhiana, has been selected to deliver the keynote address at one of the world’s largest edtech conferences in London, bringing together more than 30,000 educators, innovators, and changemakers globally.

Joshi will lead two sessions at Bett UK in January next year, on why game-based learning holds the key to social-emotional development and building engaging game-based lesson plans.

Credited as a "Top Tech Savvy Student" in India and a global teacher at the age of just 16, Joshi got hooked on Minecraft after realising that computer gaming can also be used as an education tool.

“I can’t wait to connect with the global edtech community at the show, and exchange ideas on how videogames can help children learn. I firmly believe that we all have knowledge to spread, and Bett is one of the most inspiring learning networks,” she said.

Following her #EachOneTeachTen principle, Joshi has mentored and trained more than 15,000 teachers and students to create game-based lessons to be used in classrooms and been a powerful advocate for girls in science, tech, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The high-achieving teenager was named an official Minecraft Student Ambassador by Microsoft, attained top certifications from Adobe, and has also written a bestselling book as well as given TED talks.

She was recently also named as a top 50 finalist for the GBP 100,000 2023 Chegg.org Global Student Prize and in 2021 she received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar.

“At her young age, she has already displayed incredible creativity to change how students and teachers learn. Our aim each year is to provide a truly global meeting place for educators, changemakers, and the world’s leading edtech innovators to have inspiring exchanges and spark solutions to ensure students and schools everywhere get the most out of technology,” said Louisa Hunter, Bett Portfolio Director.

“With technology constantly transforming the education landscape, it’s imperative that diverse groups of educators, innovators, and students come together to learn from each other and chart the best path forward. In particular this year, we look forward to introducing our enhanced Connect @ Bett platform, which will make it easier than ever for the right people to connect with each other at the show,” she said.

In addition to Namya Joshi, Jason Arday, Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge, has also been confirmed as a keynote speaker. He is the youngest black person ever appointed to a Professorial Chair and one of the youngest people ever to be appointed to a full Professorship in Oxbridge’s history.

More speakers at the conference scheduled for January 24-26, 2024, will be unveiled in the coming months.