At StartSchool in Riga I teamed up with Juris Vītols, a Riga Technical University student, and Emīls Timanis, a student and rapper. Over one hackathon weekend we built the first version of Vokela and won 3rd place.
What Vokela does
Vokela is a reading app for children aged 6–12. Your child reads aloud and the app listens: words turn green as they are read, difficult words are flagged in yellow for a single retry, and parents get short feedback on their child’s reading confidence, with no scores and no pressure.
Reading confidence matters, because literacy rates across Europe have been falling since the pandemic. Vokela is made in Riga, for Latvia first, with English and other European languages planned next.
Continuing the legacy
Books and reading run in my family. My grandmother, Rasma Luika, wrote multiple books. I like to think she is watching down from heaven as her grandson continues her legacy, now helping a new generation of Latvian children fall in love with reading.
Learn more at vokela.eu.