Kochi, Feb 21 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy reiterated his vision of a "Digital Kerala" leading India's technology sector, while launching 'Learn to Code' - a first-of-its-kind IT backed education project for school children.

"We missed the IT bus when the first technology wave hit India, now is the time to regain those lost years," said Chandy.

"India's IT exports total more than Rs.5,40,000 crores, Kerala's contribution is a mere Rs.4,000 crores despite the fact that a large proportion IT professionals are young, talented Malayalees, mostly working outside the state," said the Kerala chief minister.

Chandy said the idea of 'Digital Kerala' was not just that of a technology powerhouse built on IT education and entrepreneurship, but a governance system that brought IT and enabled services, through panchayats and local bodies, right to the doorsteps of citizens.

The concept of the 'Learn to Code' was first introduced by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, a very strong supporter of Kerala's technology initiatives, and taken up enthusiastically by the government.

Under 'Learn to Code' project that was launched, Saturday, 2,500 selected students were given Raspberry Pi computer programming kits across the state who will soon be trained by IT experts to write codes.

The Raspberry Pi distribution is the first such project in India and currently the only state-sponsored programme of its kind in the world.

The government, under the scheme will now start distributing 10,000 kits annually to students, primarily in the eighth standard to take forward this dream project.

It is being implemented by the Technopark Technology Business Incubator (TTBI) in association with Kerala's IT@School project and Kochi-based mobile internet technology incubator Startup Village.