Madhyam Foundation | Skilling for Youth | Learning English  

Madhyam Foundation began as a development support organisation. It has grown immensely over the years and diversified in its role. Now, they provide support and intervention programs to better various aspects of life for low-income households – from skilling for youth to insurance for crops. The organisation has done incredible work to change the lives of the disadvantaged in Odisha. Today, they work in 11 districts across Odisha with almost 35,000 marginalized and resource-poor households.

One such project facilitates rural youth to learn a career skill under DDU-GKY, a government scheme. The DDU-GKY scheme aims to provide skilling to diversify the income of households while simultaneously catering to the career aspirations of rural youth, enabling income diversity. 

This is important for a multitude of reasons. Diversity in income ensures the financial security of a household even if one of the wage earner’s industry faces adversity. On an individual level, rural youth need to be exposed to the concept of diverse income sources to better cultivate their aspirations. A farmer’s children deserve to know that farming is not the only option they have in life. 

One of the many social causes of income inequality is language. India has 22 official languages. A census from 2011 states that only 10% of the country speaks English as their first language. As the world globalizes, communication has become essential to both personal and professional success. Companies seek people who can speak a universal language like English. As a result, English has become vital for progressing in almost every career. 

Madhyam and EnglishBolo™ 

Madhyam Foundation is supporting youth who have chosen to undertake training for BPOs. The organisation supplements the training with EnglishBolo™. This 100-day program is designed to help improve learner’s spoken English skills and confidence. Learning English is a challenge for disadvantaged households. No access to quality English education and a lack of English speakers in local communities makes learning the language next to impossible. A program like EnglishBolo™ provides an affordable and accessible solution to these problems. 

How it Works 

The EnglishBolo™ 100-day program provides a learning model that provides structured and consistent learning and practise with the convenience of flexibility for accessing lessons and teachers for each user. 

The program structure: 

— An assessment test that will place the user into a program most suited to their level. 

— 100 short ‘learn yourself’ lessons. One lesson every day is the intended way to use the program. Each lesson ends with a short quiz for some additional practice. 

— After 8 lessons, a user can sign up for an online teacher class. Teacher classes are an important supplement for spoken English practice. These classes help users develop confidence.

— Each user gets to choose the day and time of the class. A user needs a good internet connection and a pair of headphones to successfully take the class. Each user gets 10 online classes for the duration of the program. 

— At the end of the program, each user takes a test and receives a certificate. 97% of EnglishBolo™ learners that finish the program have achieved targeted improvement. 

How It’s Doing 

This training, initiated in November 2019, has been very well received. User engagement is at an optimum level.

EnglishBolo™ has also provided its services to other NGOs and corporations that work to improve the career prospects and livelihoods of disadvantaged communities. Some of these organisations include RuralShores Skills Academy and Kiwanis Club.

EnglishBolo™ for Skilling | Learning English

EnglishBolo™ is a joint initiative of EnglishHelper and Schoolnet. 

The EnglishBolo™ 100-day program will help you speak confidently with practise lessons and teacher-classes. 

You can improve your spoken English with just 15 minutes of daily practise.

Be a confident English speaker! 

Download the EnglishBolo™ app and learn anywhere, anytime!

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