Highlights
- The app was born out of keenness to teach their Australia-born kids their mother-tongue.
- Their kids' feedback helped improve the app.
RBhasha was launched after months of research and development. However, it was Jayant Prasad and Puja Sahay's love for Hindi and their sincerity to teach their kids, Hindi that led them to develop this app.
Jayant Prasad arrived in Australia as an international student to study Business administration at Melbourne business school, 12 years ago.
While studying, he got married to Puja Sahay and the couple later moved to Canberra in 2006.
Today, the couple are proud parents of two boys, seven-year-old Soham and four-year-old Shubh.
The couple speaks in Hindi at home but their children talk in English.
Source: Supplied
Like most migrant parents, Jayant and Puja want their kids to learn their language.
“We speak in Hindi at home. We talk to them in Hindi but their replies are always in English,” Jayant told SBS Hindi.
For their love of Hindi and their strong wish that their kids too learn the language in Australia, the couple thought of developing an app to teach Hindi to kids.
“Kids are so good with gadgets these days and spend so much time on touch-screens. We saw that there were numerous apps to learn and write ‘ABC’ and basic English but there wasn’t much for learning Hindi to kids. So we thought of developing an app ourselves,” Jayant says.
The couple had an IT background and was aware of the basics of app making but their biggest challenge was to make an app that kids would like and enjoy.
Source: Supplied
“We needed to include animation to make it interesting for kids. We finally found someone who was not only good at animation but also was from the field of education. And that is how we set off to develop this app,” Puja says.
The couple worked for seven months on their weekends to create this app.
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Indian Australian couple develop app to teach Hindi to kids
SBS Hindi
18/08/201706:25
“Taking time out is the most difficult task with two full time jobs and kids and our daily routine,” Puja says.
Their two sons, Soham and Shubh, too played a big role in the development of the app.
“My sons would tell us, ‘Mumma, there’s needs to be a badge for this achievement’. So we have taken lots of inputs from our own kids while developing the app,” Puja adds.
“The response from parents in Canberra has been very positive. Our kids go to Canberra Hindi School and we also showed them a demo. We are happy the kids like it,” Puja says.
Source: Supplied
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