Indian Angel Network and Anand Mahindra backed start-up Thinkerbell Labs in association with the Government of Jharkhand installed 20 Braille-teaching devices in a government blind school in Ranchi. This installation in Ranchi is aimed at bringing cutting edge technology to improve learning outcomes for K-12 visually impaired children.
Ranchi is now home to the first smart class for the visually impaired in the country. The devices were installed a fortnight ago and teaches the children Hindi Braille and English Braille, through Hindi as the medium of instruction. Annie has been received with great enthusiasm and fervour by the students, teachers and school administration. The interactive audio-tactile content has reinvigorated their interest in learning Braille and has introduced them to the concept of self-learning which is completely missing in Braille education.
“It has been an excellent experience working with the Jharkhand Government. It is very encouraging to work with bureaucrats who are innovative, forward-thinking and make it easy for budding social enterprises like us to make a positive impact at such a scale. We’re actively looking to replicate this solution with change makers across the country who are willing to use technology to catalyse the growth of inclusive education in the country.” said Sanskriti Dawle, CEO of Thinkerbell Labs about working with the Jharkhand government for their very first deployment.
In a formal event, the smart class equipped with Annie devices was inaugurated by Dr. Louis Marandi, Minister of Minority and Social Welfare, Jharkhand. Also in attendance were Mr. Satish Chandra, Disability Commissioner and Mr. Rai Mahimapat Ray, Deputy Commissioner, Ranchi.
Braille literacy rate in India is less than 1% and it is high time India started acting on this problem. The Annie ecosystem provides a comprehensive solution to make a dent on this problem. The device comes with gamified content which makes self-learning easier and connectivity which allows user progress to be tracked by teachers, parents and other key government stakeholders via an intuitive dashboard. The content can be easily localised to any language and dialect, making the solution truly global.
