Google has recently launched the ‘Bolo’ app which will help enhance the Hindi and English reading skills of the primary school children. The App is accessible through the 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.”
This project has helped over 900 children in 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh in collaboration with ASER Center, that helps surveys the academic performance of children and reveals 64% of children were observed to have improved through the app.
Google reveals that the app will help children read through having a choice among various engaging stories, also it would entertain them, along with which learning will also take place, understand English better and read with a good flow.
Also, the app works offline as well and does not include any ads.