trying to get gameobjects assigned to Array[x,y]

i have been looking at all the answers and i am really new at the unity so please bear with me.

if have 3 scripts. one to maintain an 2d array

 public class Grid
 {
     public static Element[,] elementArray = new Element[5, 5];
 }

this references a script i attached to a prefab gameobject:

 public class Element : MonoBehaviour {
     
 //starts at -1 to due to the loops in gamesetup script
 public static int locX = -1;
 public static int locY = -1;
     
 int x = (int)locX;
 int y = (int)locY;
 Grid.elementArray[locY, locX] = this;
 }

lastly i have a script to build up a variable sized puzzlefield with gameobjects:

 public void GenerateGrid()
     {
 
         GameObject cellInputField;
         RectTransform rowParent;
         
         for (int rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < numOfRows; rowIndex++)
         {
             rowParent = (RectTransform)Instantiate(panelRow);
             rowParent.transform.SetParent(Gridset);
             rowParent.transform.localScale = Vector3.one;
             Element.locY += 1;
             Element.locX = 0;
             for (int colIndex = 0; colIndex < numOfColumns; colIndex++)
             {
                 cellInputField = (GameObject)Instantiate(cellgrid);
                 cellInputField.transform.SetParent(rowParent);
                 cellInputField.GetComponent<RectTransform>().localScale = Vector3.one;
 
             }
             
         }

in the test i am trying to build a grid of 5 by 5 so 25 gameobjects but i 25 times the same error:

 IndexOutOfRangeException: Array index is out of range.
 Element.Start () (at Assets/Element.cs:37)

if i understand the message correctly i am still not passing the correct [x,y] location to the array so that the gameobject is stored in the correct position. but i am complete missing a solution to this issue. i hope anyone can help me.