Over the last few months, Pratham Education Foundation and Code Club have successfully piloted a programme across 40 villages in rural India, supporting children and young volunteers to get hands-on with coding. 

The Pratham–Code Club programme

Code Club always strives to bring learning opportunities to rural communities. The Pratham–Code Club programme was established under Pratham’s Hybrid Learning Program earlier this year, and was run in 40 rural villages in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) and Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh) in India. The aim of the programme was to start new Code Clubs and introduce children in these communities to coding and digital technology. The programme also trained young adults in the communities to become the next generation of Code Club leaders.

Finding young Code Club leaders

Pratham works directly with rural communities. First, Pratham held a series of village meetings, where young people aged 16–25 could sign up to become Code Club volunteers. Once enrolled, the young volunteers attended a training session to build their confidence and learn how to:

• Set up a Raspberry Pi computer
• Use the Code Club Scratch projects 
• Share their coding skills with young people attending their Code Clubs 

Getting Code Clubs up and running 

The Code Clubs were set up in communities with few resources, where young people often do not have access to personal computers or tablets.

To help the Code Clubs to get up and running, the Pratham Education Foundation funded and put together coding kits containing a Raspberry Pi computer, keyboard, monitor, and a mouse. The kits were distributed across 40 villages, giving 244 Code Clubs in these communities access to hardware.  

Impacting young people

Through this programme, many youth volunteers were introduced to computing for the first time. 

‘I am thankful to the Code Club Programme because I feel that I am up to date with today’s technologies. It is only because of these sessions that I was introduced to this world of computers and I know what coding means!’

The programme had an amazing impact on young people in the communities, engaging 1109 Code Club members aged 10–14, training 50 young adult volunteers, and supporting new clubs to start across India. Through the Pratham–Code Club programme, children in the communities have been able to access a world of new coding opportunities, and youth leaders have been able to further their education and employment opportunities through running a club. 

Help more young people learn with Code Club

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is working hard to ensure that children all over the world have access to coding and digital making. To partner with the Raspberry Pi Foundation in India, write to us at india@raspberrypi.org, or to help Code Club grow in the rest of the world, contact us at hello@codeclubworld.org. 

Reach out to the Pratham Education Foundation at digital@pratham.org, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook to find out more about their work in India.