What is the name of your organization?
Madhi Foundation
What is the name of your solution?
Enjoy English
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
India’s first AI bilingual platform, taking children from fear to fluency by blending English with regional languages for joyful learning.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
India
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
617 million children globally are left behind, unable to read, write or count at grade level (UNESCO, 2018). In India, where Madhi operates, 3 out of 4 Grade 3 students cannot read a simple sentence, such as “This is a cat.”, as per ASER 2024. Children from low-income, multilingual households not knowing English is a barrier to opportunities as 95% higher education courses are offered in English and 85% employers demand for candidates with English fluency.
Despite 86% of parents wanting their children to learn English, 86% of teachers are not proficient in the language. This creates a cycle of struggle and missed opportunities. Children enter classrooms afraid of English, unsure of how to begin. Teachers, often eager but untrained, struggle to support their students.
Mainstream apps fail to address this issue, lacking local language support and grade-specific modules for young learners. Enjoy English bridges this divide through bilingual support, joyful engagement, and a gradual move from fear to fluency.
With the integration and advent of AI, we are poised to scale & equip 5 million children and their teachers with the right skillsets to master English - express themselves, pursue higher education, and participate fully in the global economy.
What is your solution?
Enjoy English tackles a problem larger than language, it addresses the deep inequities in access to opportunity, confidence and self-expression that so many ESL learners face. Through regional languages, easing the fear around English, and empowering both students and teachers, our solution unlocks the doors to a world where English is a bridge to learning, livelihoods and lifelong confidence.
The platform begins in the child’s mother tongue, such as Tamil, gradually building confidence to express themselves in English through bilingual stories, contexualised learning, playful activities, and conversations grounded in their everyday lives. The AI-powered speech recognition provides real-time feedback, helping children refine pronunciation without fear of judgment. Step by step, they move from silence to construction of simple sentences.
Equally important, Enjoy English supports teachers, many of whom have had limited exposure to English or digital tools. Through prioritising offline functionality and intuitive “minimal clicks” design, Enjoy English ensures that even the most remote classrooms, where connectivity is sparse and digital familiarity is low, can become spaces of joyful, equitable English learning. It is built to ensure the power and joy of language learning is within the reach of the last-mile child.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Enjoy English supports learners aged 5 to 8 from low-income families, where parents earn less than $10 a day and have limited formal education. These families fall within the bottom 25% of the socio-economic spectrum and have faced systemic exclusion for generations. In these communities, English is rarely spoken, making the language feel intimidating and inaccessible. Most children have no support for learning English at home, and the fear of the language often inhibits fluency. Enjoy English addresses this challenge by creating a joyful, culturally relevant learning environment where children feel safe to make mistakes, engage, and grow.
The app features stories, characters, and voices that reflect children’s lived realities, helping them connect with the content and build confidence. At the same time, teachers, many of whom are Tamil-medium educated and have limited exposure to English or digital tools. They receive structured, easy-to-use lesson plans and technical support. This ensures they can confidently teach English, even in low-tech classrooms.
The programme has demonstrated remarkable outcomes: Grade 2 students showed a 302% improvement in writing and a 142% increase in reading skills. Grade 3 learners tripled their overall English proficiency. Enjoy English helps transform fear into fluency - one joyful learner at a time.
