Dear Friends,
Hope you are all staying safe amidst the ongoing pandemic.
Covid-19 has exposed many fault-lines and one such is the need to ensure that, globally, children continue to pick up foundational reading literacy skills, whether they are in or out of school, in certain or uncertain times.
The current situation has locked out 1.4 billion children globally from schools (UNESCO). In India 200 million primary school children (ages 6-14) now spend even more time at home, in front of TV, mostly watching General Entertainment Content (GEC): films, serials, and cartoons. Pre-Covid, average daily viewing was 3h 46m; under lockdown it has jumped to 4h 39m.
EdTech companies and children’s publishers have started offering free educational content via the internet. Schools have been trying to figure out a way to keep the children engaged with WhatsApp groups and other video conferencing tools. But the Indian internet infrastructure has struggled to handle the load and the government authorities were forced to ask mobile operators to throttle the speed.
PlanetRead was recently featured in “The Hindu”. In this article, we talk about how Same Language Subtitling (SLS) of visual content can enable a viewer to develop life-long reading engagement. Why should any movie have subtitles in the same language as the audio? If that sounds absurd, consider why English movies on all streaming platforms come with English subtitles. Click here to read the article now.
We have some new AniBooks (animated stories with SLS) coming soon. I'll let you know about them in our next update.
And finally, I have a request, as you might be aware, PlanetRead has been recognized as a top rated NGO since 2011 (over 8 years now!) and we usually request our close friends and associates to say a few words about their experience with us. If you're a fan of our work, please take 3 minutes to write a review. It would mean a lot to us if you can help keep our top rated ranking of 4+ stars. Click here to post your review now.
Meanwhile, take care and thank you for all the support!
Best wishes,
Parthibhan
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