Coimbatore-based Suresh Kumar gave up his plum job in the IT sector and dedicated his time, efforts and resources toward creating the 'Kalvi40' mobile app, with audio, video and text content to make lessons for children of Government schools, easy to understand and learn.
Coimbatore-based Prem Kumar gave up his plum job in the IT sector and dedicated his time, efforts and resources toward creating the 'Kalvi40' mobile app, with audio, video and text content to make lessons for children of Government schools, easy to understand and learn.
'Kalvi40' is the brainchild of Prem Kumar, who is also the founder of the BumbleB Trust. The mobile application is created by the Trust and can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.
The Kalvi40 app's target users are children studying in Government schools who cannot afford to enroll for online coaching classes. The app has five segments - lightweight videos, online practise test, online timer test, daily motivational stories and puzzles that can be solved, with information about general topics. Children who are studying in Class 3 to Class 8 under the Tamil Nadu State syllabus are beneficiaries of Kalvi40.
In conversation with SimpliCIty, Prem Kumar said, “The app has videos covering five subjects. All the videos are in Tamil and are no longer than five minutes. Once the app is downloaded by the student, it allows the user to select the subject for which help is required. The app has built-in videos covering various topics related to each subject. The student-user can revisit the video any number of times. With the aim to make the learning experience more interesting, the videos are made using a combination of text, images and voice over. Each video is self-explanatory. A team of over 500 volunteers who are physically present across the length and breadth of the country are working along with volunteers who are spread across the globe to create the videos and develop the various sections of the app. The team of volunteers work in a plethora of verticals and the result of team work is what we see in Kalvi40," elaborated Prem Kumar.
The Kalvi40 app is available as a free download and can be used by students individually. For learners who do not have the facility to download the 'Kalvi40' app, the team reaches out to the school directly. The school is supported with infrastructure and the teacher is trained on how to use the respective app within the four walls of the classroom in combination with the traditional blackboard. One mobile phone to access content and one television set to play the videos are the tools being used successfully to reach out to many students at one go.
What has made Kalvi40 more than just popular is the fact that the app requires very low internet connection, mobile data connection as low as 3mbps is all that it takes to make sure that the app is up and running. Additionally, an old model television set is good enough to play the videos. Plus, the team has created videos that are lightweight. The entire set up can be installed in a school for a total cost as low as Rs. 5,000 only.
Motivated by the success of Kalvi40 app that the Founder and team have achieved, as part of the future plans, the team will ensure that the app is available in schools that are otherwise neglected and whose students cannot afford to access the app on their own.
Kalvi40 came into being in the year 2018 and has been downloaded by over 40,000 users till date, from the Google Play Store.