Global non-profit education organisation Worldreader on Tuesday said it has entered into a strategic partnership with Reliance Jio to make accessible children's books to 15 crore JioPhone users.
According to the 2019 Annual Status of Education Report on Early Years, nearly 80 per cent of Indian households have no reading materials at all. "Through Worldreader's BookSmart application on Jio phones, the partnership brings free children's books to more than 150 million beneficiaries from under-resourced households across India, most of whom are first-time internet users," Worldreader said in a statement.
BookSmart will be accessible to JioPhone users through JioPhone's app store inside the education category. BookSmart gives parents, caregivers, and pre- and primary-grade students access to a library of curated and age-appropriate books through the app. "We are excited to partner with Worldreader to bring a rich collection of digital storybooks to hundreds of millions of homes across India, during Covid times and beyond into the new normal too," a Jio spokesperson said.
The BookSmart library includes books about health (including coronavirus hygiene), nature and science, language arts, social studies, as well as storybooks and folk tales. "We are thrilled to announce this partnership during Literacy Week. Joining forces with Reliance Jio will improve the lives of millions of families," Worldreader ceo and co-founder David Risher said.