In order to support initiatives that generate social and environmental benefits, realized under the main partnership of Zorlu Holding, has been designed 7 impact-orientated initiatives which are entitled to participate in the impact accelerator program imece impact. One of those initiative which is Tospaa, scaled the social impact it created within the scope of the program through the impact report issued by the BctA team with the support of the UNDP, United Nations Development Program.
The social enterprise Tospaa which has been initiated to create an environment in which it will be possible to learn coding without the need of computer technologies, focuses on the spread educational coding tools as coding education and designs board games for the use of students, teachers and families and especially in schools without computer classes.
With Tospaa, a computer-free coding initiative through which are imagined game-based coding tools for schools, teachers and families will develop products for students who do not have access to technology. This will allow children to learn coding in their early age and strengthen their social skills.
In collaboration with the Information Technologies Educators Association, Tospaa is expected to provide support to more than 40% of schools in Turkey that do not ave access to computers. The startup also aims at closing the gap between physical and digital coding tools and reduce education-related inequalities by focusing on quality education and equal opportunities in education.
Tospaa, which is working with teachers of primary and secondary schools to develop algorithm thinking skills in children which will provide ease to coding in education without computers in schools, provides students with access to coding educational content.
Tospaa makes the learning of teaching enjoyable by entertaining kids
The founder of the initiative, Burak Sevim Şenyurt defines the impact of Tospaa’s products and services by asserting that “Students develop coding skills in an accessible and entertaining way, while developing skills that will form the basis of computational and algorithmic thinking skills.”
Tospaa’s aim is to reduce inequalities in coding education
Tospaa works to fill the shortage of materials, resources and trained teachers which are necessary for the education of children in coding. More than 10 million primary and secondary school students in Turkey reached the early coding period. Nevertheless, at the same time, 33% of students across Turkey report that there is not computer at their disposal for their schoolwork. This inequality in the hardware makes access to a quality coding education almost impossible. There, the initiative took some very important steps toward this, among which the production of affordable and accessible materials to support students’ education.
It revenue model constitutes of selling paid educational materials along with product sales at the same time that it also offers an inclusive education product and service with one-take-one-donate approach and free educational materials. Tospaa aims at reducing access to affordable coding tools to all primary school students in Turkey so that it can have a long-term impact.
In focusing on the dissemination of coding education, Tospaa directly contributes to the “Quality Education” and “Reducing Inequalities” goals, mentioned in the Sustainable Development Agenda by the United Nations. At the same time, it also design board games and different educational coding tools for the use of students, teachers and families, particularly in schools without computer classrooms.