The Journey

I remember the first time my dad bought me a box of crayons. He had tears in his eyes. As a child, he had always wanted coloured pencils but could never afford it. Growing up, I was always reminded that an ecosystem had come together to give my parents and me the life that we had.

Giving back, therefore, was not a choice. It was continuing the circle.

After years of volunteering with NGOs, driving public-private initiatives, and working in for-profit companies, I realised that development in any form, occurs when people believe that an opportunity they strive for is attainable. Attainable for them.

Our goal, at KidsWhoKode, is to create the path.

Today technology is shaping every industry. It is imperative that children learn how to use computers, develop computational thinking, build soft skills, and see linkages between their classroom books and the real-world.

Hence, in 2017, we launched KidsWhoKode. We spent 6 months testing different models. We were not sure what was the right age group to introduce coding. We did not know whether students could teach other students or whether school clubs were feasible. We observed our students use Code.Org, Scratch, Python, and Javascript to see how they responded to different languages/software. After multiple pilots spanning 2,000 students, we finally arrived at our current operating model.

Today, KidsWhoKode works with 220,000 students across 22 states. We are extremely excited about what we are building, and even more excited about how our students have grown. We hope that you will join the movement and invest a few hours to shape the next generation.

— Shweta Mukesh, Founder and CEO