Rocket Learning—which presented at the 10th edition of Google for India—announced 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 fellowship is designed to make early childhood education interactive and tailored to each child’s understanding and pace.
The support from Google.org will help advance Rocket Learning’s mission of supporting government systems to improve the IQ of India’s next generation by deploying a team of Google.org Fellows who will work full-time, pro bono for six months to develop Saheli. This AI-based study buddy will be delivered as a web application.
Saheli can adapt to each child’s unique needs, creating personalized and engaging educational experiences to spark a lifelong love of learning. The tool will deliver unique and 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 pre-schools.
Rocket Learning was the second-ever Indian recipient of Google.org’s Fellowship support. The $1.5 million Google.org grant awarded to Rocket Learning as part of the AI for Global Goals Impact Challenge has already enabled Rocket Learning to develop an AI/ML system that automatically grades over 50,000 homework images daily with 90% accuracy, increasing engagement and learning personalization for 3 million children across 10 states in India.
Currently expanding to ten states in India, the system impacts 3 million children and aims to reach 50 million in five years. Notably, 80% of children in the program achieve school and life readiness by age 6.
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. By utilizing technology to empower caregivers, Rocket Learning helps foster early stimulation and holistic development for each child.
KEY QUOTES:
“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.”
-Vishal Sunil, CTO and Cofounder at Rocket Learning
“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 the long-term wealth, health and well-being of society. Over the next six months, we are proud to be supporting Rocket Learning on a pro-bono basis to develop an AI-powered tutor that will help achieve their vision of providing preschool education to millions of children by the end of the decade.”
-Sebastien Floodpage, Program Manager at Google.org
“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.”
-Namya Mahajan, Co-Founder of Rocket Learning
