Season 01 · Registrations open
↳ ā·kār (Hindi, n.) — shape; form; the outline a thing takes once it's real.
Code Aakar is the hackathon platform for students who'd rather build than talk about building — from Class 6 through college. Find a hackathon, form a crew, and ship something real in a weekend.
const idea = sketch("?");
idea.team("you + 3")
.build({ hours: 36 })
.ship(); // ✓ demo day§ 01Upcoming hackathons
Pick one, bring an idea, and start sketching. More hackathons are added through the season.
Our season opener. Open innovation, no themes, no excuses — bring any idea and ship it in 36 hours.
Build tools that measure, reduce or adapt to a changing climate — with real datasets from partner labs.
Products for the next billion users: vernacular-first, low-bandwidth, and designed for how people actually live.
One night, one prompt. Build an AI agent that does real work before sunrise. Coffee is on us.
§ 02How it works
Four steps from a vague idea to something you can demo — one vertex at a time.
Step 01
Browse hackathons, pick a track, and bring the rough idea you've been sitting on. A napkin drawing is plenty.
Step 02
Join solo or find teammates before kickoff. Developers, designers, domain nerds — the best teams have a bit of everything.
Step 03
Heads down for 12 to 48 hours. Mentors drop in, checkpoints keep you honest, and the chai doesn't stop.
Step 04
Demo to judges, get real feedback, and walk away with a working product — and maybe a prize.
§ 03Student interest
Tell us where you study and how much you've coded, and we'll let you know when a hackathon opens for you. No account, no fee.
§ 04NEP 2020 alignment
India's National Education Policy 2020 asks schools to trade rote learning for coding, creativity and problem solving. A hackathon puts all of it into one weekend.
“Activities involving coding will be introduced in Middle Stage.”
The Middle Stage is Classes 6–8. Our hackathons open from Class 6, with beginner-friendly tracks and mentors on call, so first-time coders build alongside seniors.
“digital literacy, coding, and computational thinking”
NEP lists these among the skills every student should learn. From 2026–27, schools are introducing Computational Thinking and AI from Class 3 under NCF-SE 2023 — our AI & ML tracks give students somewhere to use it.
“Olympiads and competitions … with clear coordination and progression from school to local to state to national levels”
We run inter-school hackathons online and in person, so a student in any town can take part — not only those near a big city.
“conceptual understanding rather than rote learning”
Teams pick a real problem, build a working prototype and demo it to judges — creativity, collaboration and problem solving in a single weekend.
Code Aakar hackathons fit alongside these national frameworks and programmes. Schools with an Atal Tinkering Lab or a School Innovation Council can run one as part of their innovation calendar.
Ministry of Education
National Education Policy 2020
Brings coding activities into the Middle Stage (Classes 6–8) and computational thinking to every student.
Source: National Education Policy 2020 ↗NCERT
NCF-SE 2023
The National Curriculum Framework for School Education that puts NEP 2020 into practice in schools.
Source: NCF-SE 2023 ↗Ministry of Education · CBSE
Computational Thinking & AI
A new curriculum for Classes 3–8 from the 2026–27 session, under NCF-SE 2023.
Source: Computational Thinking & AI ↗Atal Innovation Mission · NITI Aayog
Atal Tinkering Labs
Makerspaces for students in Classes 6–12: 10,000 labs as of October 2025, with 50,000 more being rolled out.
Source: Atal Tinkering Labs ↗Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell · AICTE · CBSE
School Innovation Council
Since July 2022, helps schools run ideation, design thinking and Demo Days for students and teachers.
Source: School Innovation Council ↗Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell · AICTE
Smart India Hackathon
A nationwide hackathon that has included a Junior edition for students in Classes 6–12.
Source: Smart India Hackathon ↗Government of India
Viksit Bharat @2047
The national goal of a developed India by 2047, the centenary of independence.
Source: Viksit Bharat @2047 ↗Code Aakar is an independent platform. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of the government bodies or programmes named here.
§ 05For schools & organizers
Code Aakar gives schools, colleges and companies everything they need to plan, run and judge a hackathon — in one place. You bring the people, we handle the plumbing.
Custom forms, team formation and waitlists, handled.
Repos, demos and decks collected in one place, on deadline.
Rubrics, scorecards and blind review so the best build wins.
Scores update in real time for maximum closing-ceremony drama.
Teams book mentors by slot and get unstuck faster.
Challenges, prizes and a stage that means something.
Code Aakar is a hackathon platform built for school students in Classes 6–12, with hackathons for college students and professionals too. Find a hackathon, form a team, and ship a working product in a weekend. Schools, colleges and companies can also host their own hackathons with us.
School students in Classes 6–12 are at the heart of Code Aakar. We also run hackathons for college students and working professionals. Each hackathon lists who it's open to, such as the classes that can enter.
Yes. NEP 2020 calls for coding activities from the Middle Stage (Classes 6–8), computational thinking for every student, and competitions that progress from school to national level. Our hackathons are designed around those goals, and our AI tracks build on the Computational Thinking and AI curriculum schools are introducing from 2026–27 under NCF-SE 2023.
No. Code Aakar is an independent platform. Our hackathons are designed around national frameworks such as NEP 2020 and NCF-SE 2023, and fit alongside programmes like Atal Tinkering Labs, the School Innovation Council and Smart India Hackathon — but we are not affiliated with or endorsed by any government body.
Fill in the student interest form on our home page with your class or year, your city and your school or college. School students add a parent or guardian's contact. We'll get in touch when registrations open for a hackathon that fits.
Aakar (आकार, pronounced ā·kār) is Hindi for shape or form — the outline a thing takes once it becomes real. It's what we help ideas do.
Most Code Aakar hackathons are 12 to 48 hour sprints. Each event lists its exact dates and duration.
Both. Some run fully online, some in person in cities like Bengaluru, and some are hybrid, so you can join from wherever you are.
Taking part is free for participants. Organizers can get in touch with us about hosting.
Yes. Register solo and find teammates before kickoff — plenty of great teams meet on day one.
Absolutely. Most hackathons have beginner-friendly tracks and mentors on call. You'll learn more in a weekend than in a month of tutorials.
You do. Unless a specific hackathon's rules say otherwise, your code and ideas stay yours.
Yes. Email us with your dates and audience, and we'll help you set it up — from an inter-school event to an internal hackathon for your team.