HiVoco, the voice-tech education & learning app, has launched what it says is the world’s first voice-interactive stories series for children, called the Panchtantra Interactive. The Panchtantra stories—an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story—will be used by HiVoco for teaching kids about Covid-19-appropriate behaviour in a combination of child psychology and pandemic science.
“With the third wave of the pandemic expected to affect kids up to 15 years’ old, the interactive stories will guide younger kids to embrace good hygiene habits in a mission-critical way by reassuring them, educating them, and giving them a positive role in the household,” HiVoco said.
The Panchtantra interactive stories include self-hygiene practices that are medically-prescribed including washing hands periodically, using hand sanitisers and disinfectants, wearing masks, along with mental and emotional well-being. “We are also focusing on creating a bank of popular stories from mythology, history and science to build a values-based learning,” HiVoco added.
HiVoco is a two-way audio interactive platform where teachers and story-tellers provide interactive content and quizzes to children of 4-10 years of age. HiVoco (Voco stands for Voice Companion) is a platform where students learn from over 5,000 questions, lessons and stories. The app uses multiple voice-tech tools, and the start-up aims to have at least 80% of the content available for free use throughout so that children can access high-quality content and conversational learning.
HiVoco founder Pritesh Chothani said that early education is all about conversations. “The more they talk, listen and respond to these conversations, the more they learn. That is the core principle behind HiVoco. We want the best teachers and storytellers to engage children in a one-to-one conversation and in that explain the most complex stuff. With Panchatantra Interactive, we want the kids to be at the centre of the stories,” he said. “We want them to not only learn but also take decisions inside the story about Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.”
