J1286N Lifteracy — AI Reading Tutor for Hindi-Speaking Children

Across India, only about half of Grade 5 children can read a Grade 2 text. A child who can't read by the end of primary school rarely catches up, and is far more likely to drop out altogether. Lifteracy addresses this at the very bottom rung of the ladder — teaching a child to recognise, sound out and blend letters to form words. It is delivered as a voice-based tutor inside WhatsApp (try it out here if you speak Hindi, or watch a 3-minute video). There is nothing to download, it runs on the phone the household already owns, so it's extremely low cost and low friction. Lifteracy is inspired by proven pedagogy that has already been used in thousands of schools in India.

The Objectives

1. Extend delivery through partner NGOs holding agreements with four state governments, reaching tens of thousands of children within three years while holding cost per child below AUD 5.
2. Complete an independent randomised controlled trial, designed with a J-PAL-affiliated researcher, and publish the results so that other organisations and state education departments can use them.
3. Share know-how with other organisations who would like to use voice-based AI to expand the reach of their programs