Background

Bolo offers every parent and teacher the means to supplement their children's education, regardless of socio-economic circumstances. This is particularly crucial for children in rural India. As per the annual ASER 2018 report, of all students enrolled in grade 5 in rural India, only half can confidently read a grade 2 level textbook. Lack of reading ability can significantly impact further education, and ultimately children's ability to realize their full potential. Reasons are varied and complex: limited access to quality materials, under-resourced infrastructure, low parental literacy. We worked to use Google's resources and technology - AI and voice-recognition - to build a solution that could help enable anyone, specifically children, to develop reading skills. The goal was to create noticeable change in rural India, so the project pioneered in 200 villages and has positively affected thousands of children with improvements in the range of 30%.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Bolo is an AI-assisted app that uses speech recognition to help children to read. They literally teach themselves to read, using their voices. It works without a data connection and uses on-device hardware to process language in Hindi and English. With Bolo, we aim to encourage and engage kids so their love for reading grows and it becomes a daily habit. We believe that technology can be a powerful enabler, and we want to ensure that students, parents, teachers and the education ecosystem, benefit from it.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Bolo is guided by the delightful Diya. Friendly and fun, she is in charge of hearing kids’ tentative words and guiding them to correct reading, diction and word-building. As kids progress in their reading they are constantly prompted, reassured and praised, making the experience truly interactive. With ever more books to choose from in English and Hindi, Bolo is a well-rounded learning tool that can take kids to learn on their own, chiefly by using their voice. The app was seeded in partnerships with schools and parents. It piloted in 200 villages and has already positively impacted thousands of school children.

List the results (20% of vote)

Piloted in 200 villages Unnao district in UP, India from Oct 2018 to Jan 2019 with the help from the ASER Center, covering 1500 children. Among participants, 64% in the treatment group saw an increase in scores compared to 40% of those in the control group. 39% of the treatment group reached the highest level in the endline versus only 28% in the treatment group. 95% of kids and parents from the pilot study would like to continue using the app while 92% of parents felt that the app impacted their child’s reading skills.