Rocket Learning, one of India’s leading nonprofits focused on catalyzing early childhood development (ECD) and community engagement, is proud to announce that it has received additional support from Google.org to launch a new Fellowship aimed at developing a personalized AI tutor for underserved children. The aim is to make early childhood education interactive and tailored to each child’s understanding and pace.
Google.org’s support will help catalyze Rocket Learning’s mission of assisting government systems in improving the IQ of India’s next generation. The team of Google.org Fellows, working full-time for six months, will develop Saheli, an AI-powered study buddy delivered as a web application. Saheli, with its unique ability to adapt to each child’s unique needs, will create personalized and engaging educational experiences, sparking a lifelong love of learning. The tool will deliver impactful learning experiences for young children from three to six years of age, with the objective of adoption across the country for children in government-run Anganwadis and preschools.
Commenting on the latest development, Vishal Sunil, CTO and Co-founder of Rocket Learning, said:
We’re thrilled to receive funding and pro bono support from Google.org to enable all children in India to reach their fullest potential and boost their collective IQ. With the support of the Fellows, we are eager to deepen our understanding of personalized learning’s impact and are committed to making quality early education accessible to every child.
Rocket Learning, as the second Indian company to receive Google.org Fellowship support, has already made significant strides. Its $1.5 million Google.org grant, awarded as part of the AI for Global Goals Impact Challenge, has enabled the organization to develop an AI/ML system that automatically grades over 50,000 homework images daily with 90% accuracy. This has increased engagement and learning personalization for 3 million children in ten Indian states. Now expanding to ten states in India, the system is impacting 3 million children, with a goal of reaching 50 million in five years. Notably, 80% of children in the programme achieve school and life readiness by age 6.
Sebastien Floodpage, Program Manager at Google.org, stated:
Working with Rocket Learning, since our $1.5M financial award to the nonprofit, has reiterated the life-changing work they are doing to provide preschool education to millions of children. With the first five years of children’s lives so crucial to educational outcomes, it is clear that preschool provision is one of the most important ways to ensure society’s long-term wealth, health and well-being. Over the next six months, we are proud to support Rocket Learning pro-bono to develop an AI-powered tutor to help achieve their vision of providing preschool education to millions of children by the decade’s end.
Namya Mahajan, Co-founder of Rocket Learning, also added:
Rocket Learning’s audacious vision is to offer this technology open source as a state-of-the-art Gen AI use case for government systems to adopt as part of Digital India. Parents and educators are hungry for an AI buddy to help them help their children, and India can become a global leader in fulfilling this need.
With 40 million children in India needing quality preschool education, Rocket Learning aims to ensure that every child is ready for school and life. During the critical early years, from birth to age 6, children rapidly develop their brains, with 85% of brain development occurring by age 6. The company helps foster early stimulation and holistic development for each child by leveraging technology to empower caregivers, parents, and educators. The platform supports India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development, multiple states (Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Uttarakhand) and partner with MIT-J-PAL to measure and scale impact.
