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Publish Date: 2024-01-24 16:11:57

SPP Policy in Practice seminar | A billion lifelong readers: The Same Language Subtitling (SLS) story of system change from concept to national policy to quality implementation (Jan 31, 2024)

Title: A billion lifelong readers: The Same Language Subtitling (SLS) story of system change from concept to national policy to quality implementation.
Speaker: Dr. Brij Kothari, Adjunct Professor, School of Public Policy, IIT-D and Lead, Billion Readers (BIRD) Initiative
Date: 31 January 2024
Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Venue: LH 313.5
 

Abstract:

The weak foundational literacy outcomes of our complex school system have been known for decades, resulting in 600 million weak readers in addition to 250 million non-readers. Over 60 percent are girls and women. The Billion Readers (BIRD) Initiative’s vision is: Every Indian a fluent reader. BIRD leverages India’s vibrant and multilingual entertainment ecosystem to deliver guaranteed daily and lifelong reading practice to one billion small screen (TV, streaming & mobile) viewers.

Brij will focus on the system change strategy that BIRD has pursued with government, civil society, academia and media companies, spanning 28 years, including a mix of evidence-based-policymaking, advocacy, coalition-building with disability rights groups, design thinking, technology development, and legal tools. Having recently joined as Adjunct Professor at SPP, IIT-D, Brij is actively exploring cross-disciplinary collaboration with faculty and students.


Bio:

Dr. Brij Kothari is an academic and social entrepreneur. He recently joined the School of Public Policy, IIT-D as Adjunct Professor. He leads the Billion Readers (BIRD) Initiative and is the founder of PlanetRead.org and BookBox.com. Brij conceived of Same Language Subtitling (SLS) on mainstream TV in India for mass reading literacy in 1996, while pursuing his Ph.D. in Education at Cornell University. Since then, he has researched and pushed for SLS in national broadcast policy on the faculty of IIM-Ahmedabad (1996-2023). He is an Ashoka Fellow, a Schwab Social Entrepreneur, the recipient of the International Literacy Prize from the Library of Congress, USA, and Co-Impact’s system change grant for BIRD. At IIT-D he is looking for collaboration, coffee, and tennis partners.

 

Address
IIT Campus, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, Delhi 110016
Email
information[at]sopp[dot]iitd[dot]ac[dot]in
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