Page 148 - EW 1-156 May 2024

Interview

“Babies at birth are smarter than any person on Planet Earth”

n alum of the top-ranked them to learn all 20. After that it’s
Georgia Tech University and up to the child to learn what she/he
AStanford University, USA, wants to learn.
Raghav Himatsingka is founder-
CEO of the Mumbai-based Raising But isn’t this putting pressure too early on
Superstars Pvt. Ltd and inventor of children? Critics might say you are actu-
the Prodigy Baby app that arouses ally pushing them too early into learning.
the latent potential of 0-6 year-old That’s a common misconception.
children. Excerpts from an online We have three responses to this
interview: (see https://www.educa- criticism. Firstly, nobody can force
tionworld.in/ew-interview-raghav- a baby or toddler to do anything
himatsingka-co-founder-raising- she doesn’t want to do. Infants start
superstars/) crawling and walking when they
want to. Nobody can force them. Sec-
An engineering graduate with a postgrad ond, there is no testing in our pro-
degree in management from Stanford, gram because we prohibit testing or
you have transformed into an evangelist benchmarking. Thirdly, the duration
of early childhood care and education. of the program is 5 minutes per day.
What’s the explanation of this career to parents on some activities they So, there’s absolutely no pressure.
switch? should do with infants through pre-
It all happened at a time when I was recorded videos of 7-8 minutes. You So your presumption is that all babies are
deeply concerned about my child’s watch the video, and know precisely inherently smart to begin with…
well-being, his education, his future what you have to do. Each activity It’s a scientific truth. We believe all
amid the Covid pandemic lockdown. presented for children takes less than babies at birth are smarter than any
Earlier after completing my higher 5 minutes in a day. There’s no screen other person on Planet Earth. They
studies at Georgia Tech and Stanford time for the child because we believe should be provided every opportu-
universities, I returned to India and that it’s super evil for infants. The nity after birth to develop strength,
joined the family business. Later I app is only for parents. stamina, flexibility until age five-six.
founded my own travel & logistics What most parents ill-advisedly do
company, Truckola. But when Covid when a baby is born, is to swaddle
hit, it also massively hit the trans- What is the price range of your videos? her in a blanket and carry her in
The price differs from country to
port and logistics industry and I was their arms.
compelled to shut down the com- country because our costs of produc- But there’s a reason that infants
tion differ. In India, it starts from
pany. Consequently, I left Mumbai come into the world — to experi-
and moved back to Kolkata with my Rs.500 and could go up to Rs.1.5 ence the world as it is. They need to
lakh for the entire program.
parents. Around the same time, I be able to free their arms and legs,
also became a father. With all this at to crawl on the floor, develop their
the top of my mind, I started Prodigy What outcomes can parents and infants brains. If you wrap them up, you are
Baby as a small business to sustain expect from this app? limiting their development. The best
my family and myself. We never promise that your child
will get into IIT or Stanford. Our time to start our programs is around
purpose is to enable babies to realise two-three months after birth. Some
Now four years on, how satisfied are you parents want to start at birth. But in
with the progress of the company? the best version of their talents and the first 45-50 days, babies sleep for
potential. The Prodigy Baby frame-
Raising Superstars is a category 18 hours a day. So there is not much
creator and category leader. There’s work is a holistic system to develop for parents to do besides caring,
whole skills at the foundational level.
no such company in the world at massage etc. But after two months,
our scale doing what we are doing. For example, babies that follow our babies start learning very fast.
programs do belly crawling at three
There are many physical spaces but
nothing in the online world. We are months instead of the usual eight NEP 2020 has mandated compulsory
months. Their speaking, language,
blessed to have 300,000 lifetime early childhood education and learning
parent members in 167 countries reading, math, memory develop- for all children in the 3-8 age group. How
ment, creativity, and problem-solv-
worldwide. We have a headcount of
67 employees and half of our busi- ing skills will develop earlier than revolutionary is this mandate?
the norm, including character traits
It’s a great step in the right direction.
ness revenue comes from India, and
the other half from abroad. such as persistence, curiosity and We need to see how this mandate is
confidence. implemented. But it is definitely a
We believe that if you provide 100 forward step. I’m confident that if we
Is it like an online class for parents? development opportunities and your invest in early childhood education
No, it’s not an online class. The way child learns 70, it’s better than pro- today, we will reap great benefits 15-
it works is we provide instructions viding 20 opportunities and forcing 20 years down the line.
148 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2024