Google Assumes A ‘Bala Swarup’, Launches ‘Bolo’ App To Help Children Improve Hindi-English Reading Skills

Google on Wednesday (6 March) introduced an Android app ‘Bolo’ that aims to help primary grade children improve their reading skills in Hindi and English, reports The Hindu.

The app is powered by the Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech technology and features an animated character ‘Diya’, who encourages the kids to read stories aloud as well as help them if they are unable to pronounce a word.

“We have designed the app to work offline, so users need to just download the under 50MB app once and then they have access to close to 100 stories in Hindi and English that the children can read out loud and improve their reading skills,” Google India Product Manager Nitin Kashyap was quoted in the report as saying.

Google piloted the ‘Bolo’ app across 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh over the past few months and the early results are very encouraging with 64 per cent of children showing an improvement in reading proficiency in just three months, Kahsyap said.

The app will be freely downloadable from the Google Play Store in India for all smartphones running Android 4.4 (Kit Kat) and higher, he added.