KOCHI: Amrita Learning Reading App, Amrita University’s Android-based mobile learning app for adult basic education, has entered the semifinals of Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE, a $7-million global competition in the US to transform the lives of low-literate adults.
The eight semifinalists announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles were chosen from 109 teams worldwide competing to develop the best mobile app which will result in the greatest increase in literacy skills among adult learners in 12 months. While six semifinalists are from the US, two are from Asia, including India, and Hong Kong.
Venkat Rangan, vice-chancellor, Amrita University said, “We could achieve this success because of years of research at our education technology lab, AmritaCREATE. It has been providing tablet-based, technology driven education in remote villages through our rural education programme called Amrita Rural India Tablet-enhanced Education (RITE).”The app developed by Amrita University to provide adult basic education can revolutionise adult literacy in India, which has the largest population of illiterate adults in the world at 287 million, which accounts for 37 per cent of the total number of unlettered globally, Rangan said.
Aligned with Digital India, the AmritaRITE programme is offered using mobile technology in nine Indian languages, with a focus on educating children and low-literate adults in remote and rural villages in 21 Indian states. This outreach programme of Amrita University has impacted over 300,000 learners till now.