Assam: Hailakandi District Launches BOLO App to Improve Reading Among Kids

The district administration of Hailakandi district in Assam has initiated the Akanksha 'accelerated learning' program on Thursday. Under the programme, 230 educational volunteers joined to improve basic Bengali and Mathematics skills and conducted baseline assessment in 100 Happy Schools, to improve the results.

The district administration and department of education in collaboration with Piramal Foundation launched BOLO app to improve Bengali reading skills of elementary schools kids in the district. The app was launched by Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli at a function held at Women's Senior Secondary School here.

"Hailakandi district administration's vision is to transform the primary and upper primary school students from non-reader to reader, " said Jalli, who has been focusing on transforming the education scenario in the district since day one.

"Bolo is speech-based app designed to help elementary grade kids learn to read - anytime, anywhere - just using their voice, " said Sadasiva Reddy, Program Leader of Piramal Foundation based in Assam.

Designed for primary and upper primary grade children, Bolo helps to improve their reading skills, by encouraging them to read aloud and giving them instant feedback - even when completely offline.

Bolo comes with a fun and helpful reading tutor, “Diya”, which is powered by the same speech technology that is in the Google Assistant.

"Bolo listens to what your children read, encourages them when they read well and helps them when they get stuck - just like a real reading tutor, " said Reddy.

"Children can also play interesting word games and earn in-app awards, helping reading become both fun and a daily habit," Reddy said, adding that the app works even when completely offline, and shows no ads, so that children can just focus on reading.

Multiple children can use the same app, and track their progress separately. Over time the difficulty level of recommended stories adjusts to their reading skills.