Most of the e-learning apps available today are in English and often students understand a concept better when it is explained in their mother tongue or regional languages. To bridge this gap in education, a software developer and his father in Kerala are teaching school students in their regional language — Malayalam, through a web and mobile-based learning app. Rajeevan N and his son Jithin Rajiv (24) launched the BrainsPrep app in 2017. Based out of Areekkad, a small town in Kozhikode, BrainsPrep (formerly called BrainsApp) offers everything that a student needs — study material, live online classes, doubt clearing, helping with homework, conceptual videos, and revision classes.
Emphasising mainly on the Kerala state syllabus, BrainsPrep has over 20,000 registered users on its platform currently, which includes school students and teachers from Kerala and a few students from the UAE (who are studying the Kerala syllabus). They offer a plethora of subjects including Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biology, and more. "Students can sign up both through the website and the mobile app. Our app can be used on desktops as well as smartphones, which is a huge advantage for students. Their learning journey is not restricted to a specific device, they can learn from wherever they like and with whatever device they have," says Jithin.
Speaking about why they chose to have a dedicated learning platform providing study material in a regional language, Jithin adds, "While most of the e-learning apps are in English, we believe that users understand a concept better when the content is in their mother tongue rather than in English. During our initial years, we collected feedback from students, parents and teachers when we understood that it is highly efficient for students to learn in regional language. We believe that the medium in which we teach students really makes a difference in their understanding of a subject. Languages are just tools of communication. But two native language speakers can communicate way more efficiently in their mother tongue. The same principle applies to our app. Thus, our app is also exclusively made for the Kerala syllabus. We also wish that more such regional language-based platforms come up in the near future."
BrainsPrep was the brainchild of Jithin to help his father, who was already running a coaching centre called Brains since 1977. "I developed the app to help my father's coaching institute. Then the response was overwhelming. That's when I discussed the idea of creating a commercial learning app with my school friend Vyshak. After some lengthy discussions, we had officially enlisted the company under the name Microflik Technologies Private Limited with the initial investment by my father. We saw a need for study material, online coaching classes in regional language. We also found that students like engaging and interactive classes more than pre-recorded videos even if they are animated. And that's how BrainsPrep slowly gained steam," recalls Jithin.
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Currently, with 20 people on board, the BrainsPrep team is focusing only on Kerala, with most of their students from Tier II and III cities and rural areas. Their aim is to provide the best coaching experience at an affordable price to students through their community-based learning platform. "BrainsPrep was the first Kerala syllabus learning app in 2017. Regional language combined with live coaching will be the future of education, we believe. Students find our app very useful for their daily learning and exam preparation. Most of our new users are coming to our app through referrals and our growth till date is purely organic. Our brand ambassadors are our students," adds Jithin, explaining how BrainsPrep is different from the other similar market players.
