Knowledge
The most powerful and latest teaching tool: Subtitles
BookBox is focussing on developing the reading skills and language learning for all children through subtitle animated content (AniBooks). The concept hinges on the fact that a viewer cannot help but read subtitles while watching a video. The future plans are to develop TV shows.
Do you remember watching Chitrahaar or Rangoli on Doordarshan with Hindi subtitles of the song’s lyrics displayed on your TV screen? Now what if you were to discover that the innocuous subtitles can be turned into a very powerful and all pervasive education tool to boost literacy in children?
The subtitles in the same language as that of the programme being telecast, christened as the same-language subtitling (SLS), was conceived by Brij Kothari in 1996 while he was associate professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). And that, in fact, led to the founding of BookBox in 2004.
“Can the reading experience get converted on TV and mobile phones?” This question led Kothari and others to start BookBox, a social venture producing content in the form of animated stories (AniBooks) for children, with the SLS feature, which are later offered on other digital platforms.
Though the primary focus of BookBox lies in reading skills’ development and language learning for all children; incidentally they also contain several features that help children with special needs—dyslexic, autistic and hearing impaired children. “When sufficient content has been created, BookBox will create TV programmes from AniBooks to feed both, the demand for literacy and language learning. TV is where BookBox’s benefit will be achieved, without compromising the need to make a sustainable profit,” says Kothari, CEO and founder of Puducherry-based BookBox.
For its simple yet far-reaching vision and the content produced so far, BookBox has been nominated for the Digital Empowerment Foundation’s mBillionth awards 2016.
The prequel
Kothari has an envious academic record. Growing up in Puducherry, he studied at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE) and later went to Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K). He conceived and researched on the idea of using SLS for mass literacy in 1996 at IIM-A. He holds a doctorate from Cornell University, with a specialization in education and development communication.
Incidentally, the thought to create BookBox was born during a student-driven competition, Social e-Challenge, at Stanford University. Kothari, who is an adjunct faculty at IIM-A (from 2004 to present), went on to implement the SLS through PlanetRead, a not-for-profit organization. Former US president Bill Clinton once called SLS, a “small thing that has a staggering impact on people’s lives.”
BookBox focuses on 2 simple things: children like to watch cartoons and a viewer inescapably and automatically will try to read along, assuming a passing familiarity with the script while watching a video with subtitles. “Subtitled animation is, therefore, more than entertainment. Reading skills are subconsciously reinforced as part of entertainment,” says Kothari.
BookBox has so far produced around 50 AniBooks in over 40 languages and aims to create sufficient content to eventually launch TV programmes.
Not every road is smooth
According to Kothari, poor internet connectivity in rural area poses the main challenge. However, he adds that certain groups are doing innovative work in developing last mile internet infrastructure.
A study by market researcher Nielsen found that only about 35% of Indian children become good readers at school. An interesting statistic to counter the dismal figure is that when exposed to just 30 minutes of subtitled film songs a week, that proportion doubles.
BookBox produces stories for children in languages such as English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi and 21 other languages. “It couldn’t be done just through printed books. Children’s books are necessary but ultimately limited option to transport the reading experience across the geographic spread and linguistic diversity of India, in a context of economic scarcity,” says Kothari.
Also, for a variety of reasons, even if books are available most children do not grow up reading, or being read to, children’s books. This may be due to poor reading habits in parents themselves or even in parents who read, the value of every day reading to children, from infancy to school and even beyond, is not commonly known or shared, nor socially and culturally promoted.
Currently, BookBox has started working on a project which aims to integrate AniBooks into the schools and lives of children in grades 1-3, or ages 6-10, to aid the development of reading skills. “We will be working in select schools in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, in partnership with organizations that have the experience and infrastructure to distribute and deploy AniBooks on existing screens in schools and homes,” says a spokesperson from BookBox.
The organization has a 20-member full-time team and has also raised funding from Atlanta-based First Light Ventures, an affiliate of Gray Ghost Ventures, an investment firm which funds entrepreneurs who develop sustainable, market-based solutions for low-income customers globally.
So what does the future hold?
India currently has 900 million mobile users, of which only 10% have a Smartphone; telecom company Ericsson predicts that the number of Smartphone users will be around 520 million by 2020. By 2017, tablets are expected to command 63% of the PC (personal computer) market.
BookBox is ready to tap the market with its already launched Android and iOS apps. The apps provide free access to users. Going further, BookBox plans to develop more such Android apps using AniBook content in the required language mix and making it available on tablets for children in early grades. They feel that with the rapid growth of smartphones and tablets, the potential for scaling up is immense.