Pratham Mumbai Education Initiative was set up in 1994 at the initiative of UNICEF and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to achieve universal primary and pre-primary education in Mumbai by 2000. While aiming at universalization of elementary education, Pratham focused on both large-scale grassroots mobilization and school based initiatives. One of such initiatives is Computer Aided Learning in Government-run schools, in which primary-school children play competency based educational computer games in Indian language as part of their weekly timetable.
In the summer of 1998, ICICI Bank Ltd. was phasing out their used 486 computers. ICICI then suggested that they would give Pratham 120 of these used machines to explore ways to "leap-frog into the 21st century". Pratham took up the challenge, established 15 IT centers in Mumbai Municipal schools and introduced Computer Aided Learning (CAL). This is how the Educational Technology program came into being. In 2004, Pratham InfoTech Foundation emerged as a separate entity affiliated with Pratham.