The idea for Team4Tech was born in 2012, when Julie Clugage and Lila Ibrahim, witnessed the “transformative power of education”: Julie worked in a school in rural Guatemala while Lila worked in an orphanage in Lebanon. After working closely for years at Intel Corporation, to advance education and economic development through technology, they launched the Intel Education Service Corps in 2009. This program was met with incredible support as a large number of Intel employees began volunteering their time and expertise to the improvement of education.

In September 2012, they had another idea: creating a platform accessible to talented professionals from a variety of technological companies, to improve the quality of education around the world. With this in mind, in May 2013, they launched their first project in Kenya with a total of nine volunteers. The plan was to introduce an adaptive learning software solution to increase the education level of the primary school children. Within six months of this implementation, the students had doubled their literacy test scores. Since this project, Team4Tech has engaged in many similar projects, broadening their impact on education standards. One such project was run in November, 2016, in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh by Dawn Kwan, the project manager for Team4Tech.

VMware and Udaan Mewat Teachers

She led a project with CARE India's Udaan Mewat school where a team of VMware employees brought technology to augment the teaching and learning objectives for a residential bridge-building school for girls, who had previously dropped out of school. Udaan Mewat is an innovative 11-month program where a group of 80 girls complete Grades 1 - 5 through innovative teaching methods, and continue their studies in government schools. After 5 weeks of preparation, the VMware volunteers spent a week in Mewat, showing the teachers how to use the technology provided - building long term sustainability of the equipment.

One of the tools used in this program was Pratham Books' StoryWeaver. Dawn taught three of CARE India’s master trainers, who work with government lower and upper primary school teachers (giving them a reach of over 1000 teachers and 50,000 students), how to use StoryWeaver. She reported that they “loved StoryWeaver's wealth of stories, the ability to translate and the ease of creating new stories.”

CARE India trainers learning about StoryWeaver

She also shared Varseena's story with us. A student in the first batch who had graduated from Udaan Mewat, Varseena learned how to use StoryWeaver. “She's extremely bright and created a story, and taught her story to the rest of the Udaan students”. Varseena will play a continuous role in the implementation of StoryWeaver since she was asked to teach the teachers how to use the platform. On the last day, one of the teachers even used a downloaded Pratham Books story in her class.

Team4Tech has clearly made a lot of progress in bettering the education system all over the world through their programs and outreach. The existence of platforms like StoryWeaver and KA Lite (an offline version of Khan Academy - also used by Team4Tech) makes this job easier and more fun for the students. The technological aspect of this is what excites people the most and, in a world where electronic devices have taken over lives, introducing education via technology engages the audience more than anything else. This is why, although few in number, organisations like Team4Tech are successful in completing their goals.

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“Linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened as more and more languages disappear. Globally 40 per cent of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand.” - UNESCO International Mother Language Day website

Since 2000, the United Nations has observed February 21 as International Mother Language Day to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This year, StoryWeaver marks the occasion by opening a gateway to digital libraries in 100 languages for children across the world and thereby addressing the scarcity of books for children in their own languages. 

To achieve the milestone of 100 languages, StoryWeaver has collaborated with a global network of organisations and individuals who are helping create this vast resource of children’s storybooks, as part of its ‘Freedom to Read’ campaign. 

                                                                  

Our partners encompass national and international organisations, as well as language champions who share our passion for creating reading resources for children in their mother tongue languages. Partners like Azad India Foundation, AfLIA (African Library Information Associations and Institutions), Darakht-e Danesh Library, Little Readers' Nook, North East Educational Trust, REHMA, Right To Play, SNS Foundation, Suchana, Unnati Institute for Social and Educational Change and language champions like Agnes N.S. Nyendwa, Amit Dudave, Ana Jovic, Ankit Dwivedi, Kaye Suscang, Maharani Aulia and BE Priyanti, Nguyen Dac Thai Hang, Priya Bhakthan. The languages are varied - from mainstream languages like Afrikaans, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, tribal languages like Gondi, Korku, Kora and Santali, endangered languages like Occitan to indigenous languages like Chatino, Mixe and Triqui and underserved languages like Assamese, Basa Jawa, Basa Sunda, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhandi, Igbo, Marwari, Sindhi and Surjapuri,

Collaboration has been the cornerstone of the StoryWeaver community, and the high quality of the translations - endured by a rigorous system of peer review - stands testament to the commitment of every contributor to "Freedom to Read".

These partners will take these digital reading resources even further - to serve children around the world, and help them read in their mother tongue languages. AfLIA (African Library Information Associations and Institutions) will roll out their continent-wide reading promotion ‘Read Africa Read’ with the same storybook titles in different languages across Africa. The Ghana Library Authority has already downloaded a book translated into Ewe in the e-readers in the Library and read it aloud to children on the World Read Aloud Day. The SNS Foundation in Rajasthan is working towards building a hyperlocal library of 100 Marwari books which will be used in 1,500 schools in Rajasthan. 

The troubling statistic of 40% of the global population not having access to education in a language they speak or understand translates to over 2 billion people who would benefit from having books in their mother tongues. 

“Through StoryWeaver, increasing access to quality reading resources for children has been made possible like none other. We are also grateful to collaborate with like-minded partners whose primary mission -- like ours -- is to get every child to read,” shares Suzanne Singh, Chairperson, Pratham Books.

Click here to take a look at a short video on the Freedomto Read journey. 

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It is undeniable that wildlife plays an important role in maintaining the ecological balance of nature. Disruptions to the wilderness can negatively impact the ecosystem as a whole. Preserving the natural environment is therefore vital.

We have rounded up some of our favourite books highlighting wildlife. Check out the excerpts and click on the image to read the books.

 

‘Flippy the Flowerpecker’  is a level 1 book written and photographed by Garima Bhatia.

In this book, Flippy the tiny flowerpecker visits a eucalyptus tree to find a meal, but a surprise is in store for her!

 

‘Our Friends in the Wild’ is a level 2 book written by Ananta Prasad Wagle, illustrated by Samit Shrestha, and translated by Shannon David.

Throughout time, people have shared a strong relationship with animals in nature. This non-fiction poem explores the many ways that animals help humans.

 

‘Tiger, Tiger, Where Are You?’ is a level 2 book written by Mujahid Khan and illustrated by Manjari Chakravarti.

In the book, a tiger researcher is out looking for tiger hair and poop as part of his study. He finds plenty of signs of the tiger, but where is the big cat? After all, there are so many ways to see a tiger without seeing a tiger.

 

'The great Rifasa' is a level 3 book written by Rohini Nilekani and illustrated by Sangeetha Kadur.

Nothing seemed right in the Kabini forest — the monsoon hadn’t come and the human tourists in their safari jeeps seemed to have disappeared as well. The animals of Kabini get together to begin their own safari. A fun story, from a unique perspective, about the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

‘How to Be an Otter’ is a level 3 book written by Nisarg Prakash and illustrated by Rohit Kelkar.

Listen in to find out more about these wonderful river creatures, as an otter passes on wisdom to a group of otter pups. 

 

A level 3 book, ‘Fly Safe, Godavan’ is written by Cara Tejpal and illustrated by Sanjana Desai.

In this book, Rania is determined to keep the little Godavan chick and her Ma safe. But there are so many threats to the survival of the Great Indian Bustard.

 

‘Kanchha, the Rhino’ is a level 3 book written by Shilpi Pradhan, illustrated by Abin Shrestha, and translated by Shannon David

This is the story of a little rhino who lives in a big grassland. He loves to explore, but one day he strays too far from his mother and gets lost. Read on to find out how he gets out of trouble.

 

‘Turtle Story’ is a level 4 book written by Kartik Shanker and illustrated by Maya Ramaswamy.

Under cover of darkness, baby olive ridley turtles hatch from sun-warmed eggs on remote beaches. One of them, the little hatchling who is the narrator of our story, is delighted to make it across the beach and into the ocean without losing her way or being captured by predators. But can our little olive ridley survive the dangers of the ocean? Find out in this charming life story of an olive ridley turtle, and meet several other interesting creatures along the way.

 

‘Moonlight in the Sea’ is a level 4 story written by Kartik Shanker and illustrated by Prabha Mallya.

Fatima grows up on an idyllic island in the Lakshadweep, watched over by Nihla, the moon. She falls in love with the underwater world of colourful corals, fascinating fish, mysterious manta rays, grizzled old turtles and dancing dolphins. One day, in a terrible storm, she gets lost at sea. Join Fatima on her incredible adventure on remote islands with wonderful marine creatures.

Learn more about the people and places that inspired the making of 'Moonlight in the Sea', in this blog post by Kartik Shanker, author, ecologist, and founder trustee of the Dakshin Foundation.

 

A level 4 story, ‘Wildlife in a City Pond’ is written by Ashish Kothari and illustrated by Sangeetha Kadur.

Wetlands in any city are seen mostly as wasteland, waiting to be built over. It takes a tireless environmentalist to show us what city ponds really are – magically rich ecosystems worth preserving. Based on a real-life experience, here is a story that introduces us to the delightful fauna and flora in the urban landscape.

 

‘Gyalmo, the Queen of the Mountains’  is a  level 4 book written by Ranjini Murali and illustrated by Komal Jain. 

Koyna is in Spiti Valley trying to spot a snow leopard with her friend Lobzang. Gyalmo, the snow leopard, watches from a distance as they try their best to spot her.

Read all about the author’s fascination with the mountains and why she wrote a children's book about snow leopards here. Ranjini Murali, the author, is the Conservation Scientist at the Snow Leopard Trust.

 

Come, explore the natural quirks and intricacies of nature and its wild inhabitants with StoryWeaver!

 

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