MUMBAI: On the occasion of International Literacy Day on 8th September, Marico Limited launched a national program called Phone Uthao India Ko Padhao.
The program is aimed at providing basic English speaking skills to underprivileged children by connecting them to volunteers in urban centres simply through a phone call.
In order to be a part of the program, a volunteer has to register online and take out 10 minutes of time for a phone call in a week to help them practice spoken English, company said.
Company has been running an umbrella program called Nihar Shanti Paathshala Funwala for the last 5 years to enable children to learn spoken English through simple, free of cost, IVR based training modules, it said.
This program has seen massive success in these years by positively impacting more than three lakh children in the villages. However, it had also become evident that only practicing a language ensures true learning.
Also there is an existing pool of urban educated adults, who are willing to help but either don’t have the time or an opportunity to include it in their busy schedules.
‘Phone Uthao India Ko Padhao’ launched to connect these educated audience to the children and help them practice English by using technology as a medium, thus helping to improve the eventual learning outcomes.
A pilot project for the program was executed in Lucknow earlier in the year and more than 2000 children joined in to practice English through one month of the pilot. So far, more than 55,000 minutes of calls have been answered by these urban volunteers.
Taking learnings from the pilot, this program was launched nationally with a 360* marketing campaign.
