While studying for her A-levels, a 17-year-old pupil at Westminster School set up her own charity to help teach how to code to over 70,000 children in India. Mahek Vara, who previously went to Langley Grammar School before Westminster, started a Code Camp after she was left aghast by the poor facilities in government schools in India.
Mahek wants to go to university to study maths and computing. She realised that having a knowledge of computer programming is a necessary and important skill for professional life. Hence, she designed a programme to teach the subject in India.
So far, Mahek's charity has provided lessons in computer coding to over 1,800 schools in Gujarat, and she plans to venture into Sri Lanka and the Gulf as well.
Mahek, along with a team of Code Camp volunteers have taught the course to thousands of children, and now she is designing a gap year programme for British students to help boost the number of volunteers in the programme. She said, “I set up the charity primarily for government schools in India because I believe students don't have the same opportunities that we have here. I am originally from India and used to go there every year. Last year I had longer holidays for Christmas and Easter so I spent more time there. I realised there was a need for computer education. There are computers in schools but a lot of technical difficulties.”
The inspirational 17-year-old schoolgirl also wants to run events to encourage more girls to take up STEM subjects in science, technology, engineering and maths.
