Most parents who watch in anguish as their children are glued to their mobile or computing devices need not worry, if Dr. Swati Popat Vats, president of the Podar Education Network, is to be believed.
Speaking at an event this week, Dr. Popat Vats refuted the popular belief that digital learning does not contribute towards a child’s development as much as traditional methods do.
Dr. Vats, who is also the president of the Early Childhood Association, made the observation during a panel discussion at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Juhu. The panel discussion was part of the launch of VOOT Kids, a digital learning app for children, by Viacom18. The multi-format app, which is available on the Android and iOS platforms, aims to provide children with a fun learning experience in a parentally-controlled environment.
Dr. Vats addressed the stereotype about the digitised medium and elaborated on the evolution of content viewing, starting from the stone age to paper and then the digital ages. Social development, she said, does not only come from playing outside. “We say that one of the biggest faults of digital mediums is that social development goes out of the window, but that is not true. A lot of social development comes from watching stories that impart moral lessons as well.”
Stressing digital literacy among children, Dr. Vats said, “Co-viewing is the need of the hour. We watch content together and subsequently enlighten our children on digital literacy. The application is just a support system for parents.”
The application, with its collection of over 20,000 videos, e-books, stories and quizzes, is looking at a wider reach in India and South Asia. “Our objective is not to create the largest content base but to address the fun and learning requirements for parents and children. We take pride in parents having a look at our app and finding it meaningful,” said Saugato Bhowmik, Business Head of VOOT Kids.
The app consists of hours of Indian and international content categorised into four major streams: watch, learn, read and listen. It comes with a parental lock which enables parents to curate the content and monitor the child’s activities on the app. Parents also have the authority to control the screen time on the app based on the number of hours they want their child to absorb all the content.
Actor Soha Ali Khan, who participated in the panel discussion, said introducing digital content and screens can be valuable. “This is a good platform where children get an education through responsible entertainment and is also helpful in a household where both parents are working.”
Actor Ashish Choudhary said, “It helps if I, as a parent, have control and knowledge of what they are going through in the app, where they are not only having fun but also learning and doing something constructive with their time.”
