In India, only 1 out of 10 students in grade 5 can read a full sentence in English. Which forces around 6 million students to drop out of high school and miss out on a 38% wage premium in any job sector. Teachers lack the necessary language skills to teach. And students have limited access to the internet, smartphones and learning apps. During the pandemic, this lack of accessibility to English learning only increased.

Nihar Shanti Amla has been dedicating 5% of its profits to children’s education for 9 years. In 2020, the objective was to find a new and immersive way to make English accessible to students across rural India in the technology available to them. This would help them complete their higher studies and get equal opportunities.

India is a country where students lack technological means and trained teachers to learn English. So, we introduced an unexplored teaching method, peer-to-peer learning. We created India’s most accessible English voice guide. And got millions of students to Ask Sri.

Varun Sriram, aka Sri, is a child prodigy who has a photographic memory and is an English genius. We got him to memorize and record the entire English dictionary. Then, in collaboration with the platform of Findability Sciences, we deployed a smart IVR system. It can be accessed through basic mobile phones and teaches English in Sri’s voice. All you need to do is dial a toll-free number and ask Sri any question about English. He provides the meanings, definitions and spellings in the language that children understand.

In a country where students feel lost about the English language, one child’s friendly voice is guiding them to learn better.

Nihar Shanti Amla has been dedicating 5% of its profits to children’s English education for 9 years. Their primary target audience is women, aged 25+ from rural India. They have made Nihar Shanti Amla India’s highest-selling hair oil brand because of its philosophy of doing good.

However, for this initiative, we targeted kids in rural India, above the age of 5 who are keen to learn English.

We realized there’s a gap in the education ecosystem. Children don’t have access to technological means or proficient teachers. And this gap only increased during the pandemic, making children feel lost. The strategy was to introduce peer-to-peer learning, which would help them learn from a friend. We also tackled the lack of smartphones by launching the entire activity through Findability’s platform. It was routed through an IVR system and could be accessed through a free phone call.

In January 2021, we got in touch with Varun Sriram, aka Sri to memorize and record the entire English dictionary. Then, in collaboration with the platform of Findability Sciences, we turned Sri’s voice into a voice guide. We developed a smart IVR technology that can be accessed through just a phone call. After 12 weeks of development and planning, Sri’s toll-free number 18001031031 and the initiative launched in April 2021. Students could now call the number and Ask Sri.

We spread the word about Ask Sri to a database of 3.9 million children through one-on-one interactions, on-ground initiatives and Whatsapp communications. The activity was widely deployed in India's 6 most populated states.

Currently, the voice guide has a reach of 1 million students, with the potential to reach all 3.9 million kids in the coming months.

Ask Sri, India’s most accessible voice guide, saw a response rate of 1 million children calling in within the first few weeks of the launch. It is intended to reach 3.9 million rural children in the coming months. Nihar Shanti Amla’s education initiative has been awarded Best Education Project in India CSR Awards. Additionally, the brand has set aside INR 10 million from their revenue as an investment towards increasing Ask Sri’s footprint in 20+ states. Making it accessible in at least 10 regional languages and ensuring visibility by making it a part of the product’s packaging. With this, the brand projects a contribution growth rate of 10% towards the sales volume in the states it is operating in.