For Teachers & Students: 11 Educational apps supported by Google and MeitY

As per the official release shared by Google, in 2021, time spent by users outside India on apps and games created by Indian developers grew by 150 percent on Google Play Store and to allow the next generation of innovators, MeitY along with Google announced a group of 100 Indian startups to turn them into high-quality global apps and games as part of the Appscale Academy. Here's a look at the top 11 educational apps selected in this program:

1) ABC Song Rhymes Phonics Games: Fun learning for kids is what this children's app does very well. It's a great tool for edutainment for the pre-schoolers, something that teachers will find handy.

2) alphaTUB: This app's unique selling point is it lets you learn language through real experiences. The app allows you to capture millions of images from every part of a child's life and transform them into language learning content.

3) BitClass: LIVE learning platform for the curious & passionate user, this app allows for two-way learning through a wide range of free classes across a whole host of categories for your learning pleasure.

4) Doubt Buddy: This app is all about 24x7 doubt solving across multiple subjects for students preparing for their JEE entrance, IIT-JEE Mains or NEET exams.

5) eduTinker: This app facilitates online live teaching. Think of it as a communication platform connecting students, teachers, institutions, and parents in an efficient and collaborative manner.

6) Lila's World: Which child doesn't benefit from curious learning, especially during the formative years of their lives? This app fosters imagination through play and art, especially drawing.

7) LearnVern: This app's focusing on regional users, trying to upskill themselves without knowing English. It's a job-oriented skilling platform with courses in vernacular languages.

8) Habbit: Find people, discover passion and grow together with people of similar interests. Sure, other apps exist for this same reason, but this app has a community learning angle which is quite interesting.

9) KidEx: This app offers holistic development for children across all ages from 3 to 17 years. With challenges that hone skills and extra-curricular activities according to children's age group, it offers something for everyone.

10) Koncept Klear: An interesting community based edtech platform. It's a crowd-sourcing platform that enables teachers from all part of our country (India) to come on-board and participate in the online teaching community. Students just need to login to enrich themselves.

11) Kutuki: A preschool learning app that combines education and entertainment like no other. This is a must-have on every new parent's radar.

As a part of this initiative which is a 6-month long program, they'll be trained through a comprehensive curriculum to help them drive high-quality apps for a global market. This will include sessions on UX design, business modelling as well as monetisation strategies. It will also include sessions on data safety and security practices.

They will also be offered mentorship sessions with leading local and global industry professionals with selected startups getting a change to pitch to leading VCs.

The 100 startups were chosen out of 400 applicants after a thorough selection process that looked at their creative ideas, innovation, product quality, scalability as well as diversity in talent.

The apps selected are trying to solve the nation's major issues. These include Kutuki a preschool learning app, Stamurai a platform that offers affordable speech therapy. Vivasayam an app promoting organic farming, LearnVern a job-oriented skilling app with courses in vernacular languages and others.

Purnima Kochikar, Vice President, Play Partnerships, Google, said, "Today, India is uniquely positioned to become a leading hub for global app innovation with tremendous opportunity for Indian startups across the country, regardless of size and location, to thrive in the global app ecosystem."