Google introduces 'Bolo' to help children in reading Hindi & English

Google has launched a new app 'Bolo', aiming to help children in primary school learn to read in Hindi and English. The free app is being introduced in India first.

'Bolo' uses Google's speech recognition and text-to-speech technology. It is featuring an animated character 'Diya', who encourages children to read stories aloud and helps if the child is unable to pronounce a word.

Nitin Kashyap, Product Manager  of Google India, said, "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."

"Lack of reading ability can significantly impact further education, and ultimately children's ability to realise their full potential. Limited access to quality material, under-resourced infrastructure, and barriers to learning outside the classroom are some of the challenges that children often face," he added.

The company is also planning to soon expand the app to other Indic languages such as Bengali.