by Mohammed Reda and Aanya Niaz, 01 OCT 2025 – categories: Customer Solutions, EdTechs, Education, Public Sector | Permalink | Share
India’s National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020 – National Education Policy 2020) calls for technology to play a central role in equitable, high-quality education, emphasizing “online and digital education: ensuring equitable use of technology.” Yet reliable connectivity and devices remain out of reach for many students, especially in rural and public schools:
These gaps limit millions of students from reaching creative computing skills and problem-solving as outlined by NEP 2020. This is where the Pi Jam Foundation — a nonprofit committed to bringing creative coding and digital skills to underserved students using Amazon Web Services (AWS) — steps in to bridge the digital divide.
Pi Jam Foundation built Code Mitra, a modular open platform that delivers creative coding to students and teachers across India. The platform uses block-based programming (block-based programming) to build 21st-century skills like logic, problem-solving, and collaboration. Projects are localized, from water conservation models in Kashmir to traffic optimization in Maharashtra.
The platform integrates with national LMSs such as DIKSHA. Designed for low-resource environments, Code Mitra runs on low-cost Android phones and supports offline use; teachers have built-in professional development tools and can co-create local content.
From the start, Code Mitra runs fully on AWS for reliability and scalability, leveraging AWS Lambda, Amazon Aurora, Amazon S3, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon ElastiCache, and other managed services. Pi Jam also uses Amazon Bedrock to score ideas for large student hackathons and extend AI for Scratch, enabling students to experiment with AI in a visual creative-coding environment.
Since launch, Code Mitra has reached 1.14 million students across 95% of India’s districts. Seventy-six percent of learners access lessons on low-cost devices; context-based activities achieve 58% completion, with 30% of students submitting original ideas. Over 11,000 teachers across 14 districts have been trained; 71% say activities are easy to localize and 84% report higher classroom engagement.
On the technology side, Pi Jam reports a 30% improvement in API response times after modernizing the platform with AWS managed services, delivering smoother experiences even in low-bandwidth settings.
The AWS Education Equity Initiative (EEI) provides promotional credits that help Pi Jam expand quickly in underserved regions. This support enabled India’s largest student hackathon – the Eco Creativity and Innovation Hackathon with over 700,000 participants and 200,000 ideas – and funded state-level learning portals such as the Code Mitra variant for Telangana. These efforts let public-school students and teachers across the state access structured creative-coding pathways and localized resources, demonstrating EEI’s sustainable impact.
Pi Jam aims to reach another 1 million students by 03/2026 and 7 million by 03/2028, prioritizing rural and public schools. Planned features include AI-driven personalized learning paths and a content recommendation system.
Pi Jam Foundation shows how a cloud-native approach on AWS can scale creative coding for learners at risk of being left behind. With ongoing support from the AWS Education Equity Initiative, the organization is poised to reach millions more students and introduce AI-powered personalization, ensuring every child — regardless of device or connectivity — gains the skills to thrive in a digital future.
Explore how your education program can use the cloud to expand access and improve learning outcomes at the AWS Education page.
TAGS: Amazon Aurora, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon S3, AWS Lambda, AWS Public Sector, customer story, EdTech, education
Mohammed Reda
Senior solutions architect at AWS. He helps schools, universities, and EdTech companies in the UK adopt cloud technologies, improve education services, and innovate on AWS.
Aanya Niaz
Global education equity lead at AWS, focused on expanding access to cloud technology to help organizations build innovative learning solutions, especially for underserved students.