Google last week launched app ‘Bolo’ to help primary grade children improve their Hindi and English learning skills. The app is aimed at bridging learning gap in education and is available on Google play store in India.
According to Nitin Kashyap, Product Manager, Google India, “Bolo is designed as a reading-tutor app that helps students improve their reading — anytime, anywhere. With Bolo, we aim to encourage and engage kids so their love for reading grows and it becomes a daily habit.”
Zohair Hyder, Engineering lead for Bolo said, “ We have our own personal experience and know that reading aloud with someone giving 1:1 feedback helps improve reading skills. Many children especially those in rural India don’t have this support. With Bolo we wanted to bring a similar experience to anyone who reads it, via their smartphone.
The app uses Google’s speech recognition and text to speech technology. It comes with a built-in fun and helpful reading buddy, “Diya” that encourages, helps, aids and corrects the child, as he reads aloud.
Google said that their Pilot project with ‘Bolo’ has given very encouraging results. They experimented with over 900 children in 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh with the help of ASER Centre. According to google, 64 per cent of children showed an improvement in reading proficiency in just three months.
According to Google, the app helps children in reading by themselves, choosing from a large variety of engaging stories, enjoy as they learn, improve their reading ability at their own pace, understand English better and read without distraction. It further said that the app keeps children’s safety and security in mind as all personal information always stays with the device.
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