With schools remaining closed for nearly seven months due to Covid-19 pandemic, Bengaluru-based not-for-profit Children Book publishing house ‘Pratham Books’ has relaunched its famous “Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno!” programme.
With the help of Cognizant Foundation’s support the education programme will enable access to quality education to the students from underserved communities. The foundation has adopted Scholarship for higher education, Digital learning, STEM and Vocational Technical education as its focus areas in Education.
“Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno” programme is aimed to help children to listen to delightful stories in Kannada, English, Marathi and Hindi languages.
Speaking to IANS, Pratham Book’s Priya Desai said that listeners can give a missed call — which is for free — and receive a call-back, where they can select the language of their choice and the age group of the child, and then listen to an audio story.
“They can even call again and listen to new stories every time! There are hundreds of audio stories that children can enjoy listening to, as schools remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Desai added.
“Two stories of four to six minutes each will be played to entertain you. That’s what ‘Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno’ is all about,” she explained.
“Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno! saw a tremendous response when the Covid-19 lockdown began, showing that it did indeed help to keep children engaged while they were stuck at home.
“There was tremendous traction for the campaign, where over 1.6 lakh children listened to 3.6 lakh stories across India during the months of April, May and June 2020,” the CEO Pratham Books Himanshu Giri said.
“Cognizant Foundation is proud to have supported an initiative that brings the time-tested benefits and delights of stories to today’s children. The initiative is a timely and effective way to help children not only relax and deal with the stress of being constrained by the pandemic, but also unlock new experiences, reflect and improve their understanding of language and the world around them,” Rajashree Natarajan, CEO, Cognizant Foundation stated in a statement.
Giri further added that the audio stories on offer deal with a diverse range of subjects that explore concepts of science, technology, maths, wildlife and biodiversity, family, friendships, life skills and more.
“Children are exposed to many new ideas through these stories that help them engage with the world around them with curiosity, imagination and empathy. These stories will help foster listening skills, build vocabulary, and develop an enthusiasm for reading,” he claimed.
According to the statement the “Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno! saw a tremendous response when the Covid-19 lockdown began, where over 1.6 lakh children listened to 3.6 lakh stories across India during the months of April, May and June 2020, Ashowing that it did indeed help to keep children engaged while they were stuck at home.
The missed call can be given to 08068264448 to listen to the delightful stories from Pratham Books. (IANS)
