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Interactive books for children

Tamanna Khan and Fardaus Mobarok
With both parents working, three-and-a-half-years-old Saifan is often left to himself to know the world from a set of books by a device that he can play with and learn without anyone's assistance.
Two English, one Bangla and one Arabic books come along with a pen-like electronic device that reads to children when it is pressed on to alphabets, words, rhymes, poems and surahs.
Published by Holy Publication, the book-set is aimed at helping children between the age of two and seven to learn the three languages without the help of parents and teachers and even listen to songs.
The device has a switch and two outlets - one for headphone and another for charger.
Iqbal Hossain Sujon, publisher of the book, said one of his friends imported electronic gadgets from China and that he had suggested the idea after coming across some interactivebooks.
Passing from the statistic department of Dhaka University, Sujon used to work for a share market investing company. But when his friend came up with the business idea, Sujon began to think how he could apply this innovative technology.
Himself the father of a four-year-old child, he thought of bringing out books that would assist children in learning at the primary stage.
Sujon borrowed money from his family members and friends to start the business. Then he developed the content and the software and then imported the devices from China in May last year.
He published 5,000 sets of books in the first lot. Every set that has four books and a device with a charger costs Tk 4,000 but at the book fair it is available forTk 3,500.
“I wish I could produce more to make the books more affordable."
Sujon continued that the books could be used as education material by the Department of Mass Education. "Our teachers have problems with pronunciation. This book can help them teach the right pronunciation. Besides, if the government provides me with the learning materials, I can produce more books of this kind."
The idea can also be applied to the literacy programmes for adults and for the people with disability, Sujon added.
As many as 3,000 sets of books have been sold out.
"The books are not selling much in the fair as people do not come here with so much money," Sujon said.
However, visitors showed interest in the books and described them as a new addition to the entry-level education system. Some of them praised the technology as a step forward towards the digitisation of the education system taken up by the government.
"It is simply excellent. I want to have a set for my baby," said Sabuj, an engineer, while visiting the stall yesterday.
He, however, expressed his reservations about the price. "It could be affordable for more people if the price was kept within Tk 2,000."
Jahangir Selim, a school teacher from Mohammadpur in the capital, highly appreciated the initiative saying, “It is a unique opportunity for the children particularly those who live in remote areas of the country to learn the accurate pronunciation."
Besides the fair, the book sets are available at Holy Print shop in Purana Paltan's Gloria Centre in Dhaka.