Piramal Foundation ties up with Google to help 6 lakh children learn to read across 6 district

Piramal Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Piramal Group, said it has tied up with tech giant Google for an initiative to help 6 lakh children in India learn to read with the help of 'Read Along', a speech-based reading tool by Google.

This initiative has been launched in 30 aspirational districts across six states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh -- spanning two years, the Foundation said in a statement.

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018, only 50.3 per cent of all children enrolled in fifth standard can read at least a second standard-level text.

According to the Foundation, the learning initiative will aim to help bridge this gap and empower 3,000 plus managers to train 30,000 plus teachers across India to help improve foundational literacy among students aged 5-11 years.

This initiative aligns with the Ministry of Education's NIPUN Bharat initiative (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy), which aims to ensure that every child in India attains their foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes by 2026-27, it added.