The founders of Dost Education, Sneha Sheth and Sindhuja Jeyabal, met on a college campus in Berkeley, California.

While discussing shared interests in technology and education and their paths to college, they agreed that a large part of their success was down to the families they were born into.

How can we help every child in India get a strong start in life, regardless of their background?

The radical question led to a radical idea.

2015 - The Beginning

In 2015, Dost Education set out to transform early education by showing up as a supportive friend to families, offering easy-to-follow tips and strategies based on the science of responsive caregiving. The framework was summed up in 3 words: Talk, Care, Play.

Innovation Through Technology

Dost showed families how to look at whatever they found around them through a child's eyes and turn it into educational magic. Technology solved the challenge of taking these tips to the thousands of families who needed them. 1-minute phonecasts on a basic mobile phone carried tips and activities into homes everywhere.

Expanding Impact

As families started sharing the joyous difference they were seeing in their children, Dost expanded its work. The phonecasts were created in 5 different languages and entered over 450,000 homes. Dost also began direct intervention to support communities of parents with discussions and technique demonstrations. Programmes for fathers and mothers facilitated gender-equitable caregiving.

Continued Innovation

Technological innovation continued to multiply the effort. Bol Saathi, chatbot aided storytelling modules were developed to enhance oral language development and thinking skills.

Today, Dost Education is a women-led, 38-person team in India. CEO Richa Shukla, a long time champion of joyful early learning, drives growth and new ideas for the way forward.

Building a public system where caregiving is
joyful, shared, and sustained.

By turning turning every child’s world into their classroom across Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh through deep, 5-year state plans on responsive caregiving that drive meaningful household impact.

Mission

Improve school-readiness for low-income families in India.

Vision

Empower families to create a safe, loving, learning environment for every child to be school-ready.

 Our Journey

 The Idea Behind Dost