BrainGym Jr is child development initiative that enables application and problem solving for children. Conceptualized by Vidur Garg, BrainGym Jr aides customized facilitation to build a strong foundation of logic, reasoning and critical thinking for children. This is done through an online subscription of daily exercises based on Mathematics, English and Real-world Skills with customized levels of difficulty. Vidur Garg, Co-Founder, BrainGym Jr in an exclusive interaction with Rajneesh De, Consulting Editor, APAC News Network explains how children get a host of fun and engaging formats, unlimited practice questions and rewards for regular practice.
How did you come up with an idea to start BrainGym Jr?
BrainGym Jr is extremely close to my heart simply because the idea originated with our son when he was 7 years old and suddenly learning from home, given the onset of the pandemic. This led to a deeper insight into what our son was learning academically and how he was using the knowledge. While core concepts of Math, English and other studies are taught very well in school, there was limited opportunity for him to apply and use the learning in a real context.
For example, children are taught the concept of LCM in school but may not know what it really means or how it will be used. We have questions with real-life situations where the application of these concepts is showcased. We also give instant solutions, so the learning is complete.
Further, all children in a given classroom are taught assuming the same level of proficiency. We wanted to customize the difficulty as per each child’s personal capability and accordingly nudge them upwards with positive reinforcement.
What are the solutions and services that BrainGym Jr offers, how are they different from others?
BrainGym Jr is a child development initiative that supplements academia by helping children sharpen their logic, reasoning, language and maths skills with simple real-life examples from our own environment. Today, most other offerings focus either on core academia or on creative skills. We want to strengthen core concepts of Math, English and Real-world skills that prepare children better for the future – whether it is competitive exams, career choices etc.
Hence, BrainGym Jr offers a subscription-based online platform offering brain development exercises through a fully automated portal for children between the age group of 5-11 years. With BrainGym Jr, just 15 minutes of daily exercises help open a child’s mind with new methods of application of concepts learned in school.
Children receive a fresh set of exercises across Maths, English and Real-world skills every single day. These exercises come in 16 different engaging formats such as crosswords, match the column, multiple choice etc. There are instant answers and explanations for attempting the question. Every correct answer is attributed to points. Children can unlock badges, appear on leader boards or redeem points to take jump tests to race to the next level.
Additionally, 5000+ exercises are available for practice over and above the daily questions that children can do at their time and pace. The program is tailored to each child’s ability by setting the difficulty levels from 1-15 for each subject.
In summary, our key differentiator from other offerings in the market is that BrainGym Jr is focused on application, not instruction. We are an online DIY (Do It Yourself) platform with Instant solutions that not only makes learning fun but also imbibes a daily habit to ‘think’ and apply your mind.
What is the business model you follow?
We want to teach children ‘How’ to think. A strong base of English(language), Math and Real-world skills is a universally accepted requirement to build logic, reasoning and critical thinking in children. There is a whole host of research confirming that children build cognitive abilities best between ages 5-11 years.
In line with the same, we want to be accessible across all English-speaking countries to every parent who has young children. In order to ensure that, we have kept our offering extremely affordable and are currently available across 8 English speaking countries. All one needs is a device connected to an internet connection – be it a mobile, a tab, a laptop.
Not only can parents come to purchase directly on our website, we also provide our platform as a product for schools/teachers to use as a teaching tool that augments what is being taught through an application.
Currently, for India, BrainGym Jr subscription is offered in monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual timeframes. While today it is a fully automated web portal that is mobile responsive, we are shortly launching an Android and iOS app as well.
We want BrainGym Jr to benefit every single child and make them future-ready!
What is the GTM strategy of BrainGym Jr and what are the initiatives followed accordingly?
The core success for BrainGym Jr is if every single child uses this daily. We want the children to come, use and enjoy it, while parents can see children progressing. Therefore, we need to be easily accessible and extremely affordable.
Our core outreach strategy is to explore the market through strategic partnerships and alliances. We would like to partner with a few key brands in each category (example, telecom partner, payments app etc) and offer every partner a curated offering that aligns with their story. This also enables us to work on cross-promotions in a focused manner. We are unique and do not compare with either the current market offerings or the prevalent pricing in the market. Given we are creating a category of sorts, we would like to partner through a bespoke offering with brands that have a digital presence.
Further, we are connecting with schools for an offering where the BrainGym Jr platform can be leveraged by teachers for enabling their students. We also believe this is a fantastic Employee Benefit that organizations can offer their employees who are young parents.
We are committed to keeping our offering extremely affordable for the customer and will continue to focus on mutually beneficial partnerships in India and abroad.
How would you define the new trends in the industry?
Like everything else, the pandemic has transformed the way online learning is perceived. Today, ‘learning’ is not bound by constraints like space or geography anymore. Parents are keen to ensure their child has access to the best education, be it academic or otherwise. Holistic learning beyond core academia is gaining acceptance.
For an Education company, the ability to leverage and incorporate technology effectively is an important differentiator to manage scale and provide a high-quality offering at affordable costs.
What are your top 5 ways that you would suggest a parent when it comes to developing a growth mindset in their children?
- New Experiences – Exposure to new experiences leads to children connecting the dots in their brain (create neural pathways), thereby enhancing memory recollection and motivation to try new things.
- Make Challenges Fun – For every new experience, children go through a journey from ‘ I will not do it’ to ‘ I have done it!’. For this, the challenges must be in incremental and achievable steps.
- Wrong Answers are not Bad – Children need a secure environment at their home and any other place of learning. They need to be encouraged to try, even if they get it wrong with direction to the correct answer. Wrong answers at an early age, lead to right answers as adults!
- The Brain can be Trained – Children need to be taught that their brains are like muscles and can be strengthened through practice and perseverance. Positive reinforcement to regularly practice and create winning outcomes helps in creating a sense of self-efficacy and control over outcomes.
- A New Way may be the right way – The human brain is wired to look for shortcuts. The more you practice, the brain starts looking for newer and shorter ways of doing the same thing. This makes us more efficient.
What is going to be your key focus areas for the next few quarters?
Our focus will always first be the value we provide to the customer through the quality of our content, seamless experience and scalable technology. We will continue to strengthen the same and also launch our android and iOS applications in the next few months. In addition, we will introduce some interesting features to augment the learning experience for our subscribers.
In terms of the market, our effort will be on forging like-minded partnerships across India, the USA, Canada, Singapore, UK and Australia.
