Always free
No child is ever asked to pay. Cost should never stand between curiosity and a keyboard.
Home / Founders
Meet the founders
Two Class 12 students who decided the wait for someone else to bridge the digital divide had gone on long enough.
Founder
Ishita Mishra
Founder & Chairperson
Ishita Mishra started VidyaSetu Foundation while still in Class 12, after noticing how many children in nearby communities were growing up without ever having touched a computer. What began as a few weekend sessions with neighbourhood children has since grown into a network of volunteer mentors and community learning hubs.
Now preparing for engineering entrance exams, Ishita leads the mentor network and holds the line on the rule VidyaSetu started with — every session stays free. It is a working argument that you don’t need a degree or a budget to start closing the digital divide, only the willingness to teach what you already know.
- Class 12 studentPreparing for engineering entrance exams.
- Leads the mentor networkRecruiting, training and supporting volunteer mentors.
- Keeps it freeNo child is ever asked to pay for a session.
Co-Founder
Dhanurkesh Yadav Gangala
Co-Founder & Programme Lead
Dhanurkesh Yadav Gangala came on board in the earliest days and took on the part that turns a good intention into a running programme — finding spaces communities will actually come to, sourcing devices, and making sure a session that is promised is a session that happens.
Also in Class 12 and headed for an engineering degree, Dhanurkesh shapes the hands-on projects children build in their first few weeks — the small, finished things that convince a child the machine is theirs to command rather than something to be careful around.
- Class 12 studentAlso on the road to an engineering degree.
- Runs the learning hubsSpaces, devices and session logistics.
- Designs first projectsThe hands-on builds that hook a beginner.
We are still in school ourselves — and that is rather the point. If two Class 12 students can put a laptop in front of a child who has never used one, nobody gets to say it is too hard to start.
The founding idea
Three principles VidyaSetu was built on
They shape every session we run and every mentor we welcome.
Taught by practitioners
Volunteers teach what they actually do — so children learn the real craft, not a watered-down version of it.
Rooted in community
Hubs are built with local families, so learning continues long after a session ends.
Want to help build the bridge?
Every mentor who joins and every gift that arrives extends this work to another child.