Google Launches ‘Bolo’ Reading-Tutor App In India

Google Bolo App Comes with a built-in reading buddy, “Diya”, that helps children learn to read

Google Bolo’s Diya

Internet Giant Google unveiled a free speech-based android application to aid primary grade students improve their Hindi and English reading skills.

Bolo Pilot Project with over 900 children in 200 villages

Google has been piloting Bolo with over 900 children in 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India, with the help of ASER Centre. The results are very encouraging, with 64% of children showing an improvement in reading proficiency in just 3 months. You can read more about the pilot results.

Bolo App Works Offline

The freemium ‘Bolo’ app uses speech recognition and text-to-speech technology and can work even when there is no internet connectivity.

Includes 90 Books

The Android app includes 90 books, 50 English and 40 Hindi textbooks, and can be navigated with the help of Diya, an animated digital assistant who encourages children to read stories aloud and helps them with their pronunciation. The India-specific app, which also gives ‘rewards’ for acheiving milestones, comes with a report card that parents can use to follow their child’s improvement.

Google-Bolo-App- App-launch-photos

Nitin Kashyap, Product Manager, Google India on Google Bolo

“Bolo is designed as a reading-tutor app that helps primary grade students to 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. 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. We have been piloting Bolo in 200 villages, and the early results are very encouraging. We are now actively working with a number of nonprofit partners to take it to more people across the country who could benefit from it.”
Nitin Kashyap, Product Manager, Google India