Dost Education

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Dost Education Dost (‘Friend’) is a mobile platform that enables parents of any literacy level to improve their

Dost Education empowers aspiring middle-income parents in India to improve their child’s early development and school success. Through widely available mobile technology, Dost, which means “friend” in Hindi, delivers local language curriculum and a communication platform to arm parents with the knowledge and resources they crave.

10/13/2026

No, we haven’t got our calendar mixed up. The International Day of the Girl Child was two days ago. That’s exactly the point.

This father in Uttarakhand isn’t looking at a calendar. He’s just doing what he does every day, finding time away from his daily-wage hours, to connect with his daughter. Today, he’s teaching her how to play carrom. He calls out colours, she repeats them. He teaches her how to strike without telling her that she fumbled a shot. What a wonderful way to make her confidence grow.

That’s what responsive caregiving looks like in everyday life. At Dost Education, we work with over 550,000 caregivers, guiding them on how to weave Talk, Care and Play into ordinary moments to help their children (not just girls) observe, speak, learn and grow.

Every day is the day of the girl.

10/13/2026

This father and child have no idea that October 11th was the International Day of the Girl Child. But as he kicks the ball to her and she squeals with joy, they celebrate the spirit of the day.

He isn’t teaching her anything. He is simply there, making time to play with her on a terrace.
That’s everything. When a little girl knows that a caregiver will always make time for her, she feels loved, safe and seen, and that feeling is the ground every other kind of learning grows from.

At Dost Education, we work with families of children aged 0 to 6, guiding parents to make time for moments like this through Talk, Care and Play, on every, ordinary day.

Every day is the day of the girl.

10/12/2026

The world celebrates every girl’s dream on International Day of the Girl Child and the changes we’re pushing for to make those dreams a reality.

But dreams begin in childhood. And that childhood is a long string of everyday moments. Like a father who patiently listens to a long, winding, going-nowhere-in-particular story, or a parent who just sits on the floor and says, “Uh-huh? Tell me more.”

Responsive caregiving is the first step to helping a little girl feel loved, secure, seen and heard. Talk, Care and Play, built into ordinary moments, encourage her to be curious, to explore, to learn, and then to dream.

So this International Day of the Girl Child, at Dost Education, we celebrate every little girl and her babble. And we celebrate the parents who encourage it, every single day.
Every day is the day of the girl.

10/07/2026

This , we joined hands with Bachpan Manao and reached out to caregivers to give what children cherish most: time.

Caregivers in our intervention areas across Uttarakhand, Uttarakhand and Bihar were asked to put everything aside and give one hour of undivided attention to a child. The only rule was – let the child lead and you follow.

Needless to say, heart-warming interactions were reported from homes and Anganwadis. It’s the kind of giving that costs nothing, but its benefits are harvested by a child over a lifetime.

Imagine a mother in a village in North India.She may be able to read, or she may not. She may have a phone, but it could...
10/05/2026

Imagine a mother in a village in North India.

She may be able to read, or she may not. She may have a phone, but it could be a basic feature phone, perhaps even a shared one. In a world overflowing with apps, chatbots and digital solutions, how many of them are actually built for her?

At Dost, we’ve spent over a decade supporting caregivers. We know that every parent needs someone to turn to, but the families who need support the most are often the ones with the least access to the tools designed to provide it.

Hello Dost is built to change that. It brings customised AI-powered caregiving support to a simple feature phone, using the most natural interface there is: a parent’s voice.

A mum or dad can simply ask: How can I help my child learn new words? Give me a story to tell my child? What should I feed my baby when they’re ready for solids?

No typing, reading or scrolling, just ask and listen.

We’re going live this month with a small group of parents, learning as we go. We’re excited about what this could mean for the 550,000+ caregivers we’ve reached so far and for many more families beyond.

If you’re interested in learning more or collaborating with us, write to us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

Technology partner: ColoredCow

EarlyChildhoodDevelopmet

At Dost, we know that every parent needs support. Whether it’s a question about a child’s behaviour, learning, nutrition...
09/30/2026

At Dost, we know that every parent needs support. Whether it’s a question about a child’s behaviour, learning, nutrition or how to respond to a difficult moment, having someone to turn to can make a difference.
However, most parenting tools are designed for people with access to the web, apps and digital tools. The parents who need support the most often don’t have access to this technology. Many of the caregivers we’ve worked with for over a decade use basic feature phones and may not be comfortable reading, typing or scrolling.
So we asked: what if getting caregiving support could be as simple as talking to someone?
That’s how we built Hello Dost: two-way AI conversational support over a simple feature phone. Built around our framework of responsive caregiving — Talk, Care and Play — Hello Dost lets parents simply speak, listen and respond. They can ask for practical support on calming a child at bedtime, building vocabulary, introducing solids and so much more.
Just pick up the phone and talk to Dost.
Hello Dost builds on everything we’ve learned from supporting over 550,000 caregivers over the last decade. It takes us a step closer to making trusted support available whenever a parent needs it.
We’re starting with a small group of families, listening and learning before we scale. This iterative approach means we’re not asking families to adapt to AI; we’re adapting technology to fit their lives.
Interested in learning more or collaborating with us? Write to us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

EarlyChildhoodDevelopment

What does it take to gather people around the idea that care is a community effort? Weeks of planning, conversations, ac...
09/30/2026

What does it take to gather people around the idea that care is a community effort?

Weeks of planning, conversations, activity prep with Anganwadi workers and close collaboration with ICDS and WECD Uttarakhand

Poshan Maah 2026 was all of that and more as the Dost team went all out in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh to show caregivers not only that nutrition was the first building block to child development but also that they weren’t expected to have all the answers and that support was close at hand.

Through community sessions, parent meetings and hands-on activities, families explored balanced, nutritious meals using locally available foods, nutrition during the first 1,000 days, healthy eating habits, hygiene and children’s development.

With children, learning happened through play, with sensory activities using touch, smell and taste, making shapes with dough, counting and sorting everyday household objects, and discovering how talking, playing and everyday interactions support children’s learning. Sessions also encouraged families to think about screen time and the role fathers can play in everyday care.

The hub of all this activity was the Anganwadi, the place where families, communities and frontline workers come together to take responsibility for giving every child the care, nutrition and opportunities they need to thrive.

Humaari Anganwadi. Humaari Jimmedaari.

For years, Dost has supported caregivers with simple, practical ideas that they can use at home, through phone calls, st...
09/23/2026

For years, Dost has supported caregivers with simple, practical ideas that they can use at home, through phone calls, stories and prompts built around Talk, Care and Play. And if there’s one thing our work with families has shown us it is that parenting questions do not arrive on a schedule.

A mother will want to know how to calm a tantrum while it is happening. A father may wonder how to tell a story when there is no book at home. A caregiver may simply need reassurance that they are doing the right thing.

This is the reality we are solving for with Hello Dost, our voice-AI caregiving companion.

It’s meant to help and simplify. So, there’s no app to download, no typing questions or scrolling through answers. A caregiver can call from an ordinary feature phone, speak naturally in Hindi, and receive practical, personalised guidance rooted in responsive caregiving and Dost’s Talk, Care and Play framework.

Hello Dost builds forward on everything we’ve learned from supporting over 550,000 caregivers over the last decade. It takes us a step closer to making trusted help available whenever a parent needs it.

We are beginning with a small group of families, listening and learning before we scale. An iterative approach ensures that we’re not asking families to adapt to AI. Instead, technology is adapting to fit in to their lives.

Interested in learning or collaborating with us? Write to us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

EarlyChildhoodDevelopment

🎉 We’re delighted to share that Dost Education has been honoured in the Education and Learning category at the Times of ...
09/04/2026

🎉 We’re delighted to share that Dost Education has been honoured in the Education and Learning category at the Times of India Social Impact Summit 2026!

Since 2015, we’ve been building simple, low-cost solutions that reach parents where they are , turning everyday moments into learning opportunities that help prepare every child for school. 📚

The numbers so far:
✨ 1.1M+ children reached
✨ 550,000+ parents supported
✨ 35,000+ frontline workers trained

This recognition belongs to the mothers and fathers who pick up the call every week, the Anganwadi workers and state teams who make this work possible
and our funders and partners who’ve believed in this journey

Thank you The Times of India for this recognition.

veddis_foundation The LEGO Foundation Fast Forward Giving Theirworld Bachpan Manao Echidna Giving I ANIL AGARWAL FOUNDATION I JSW Foundation I The Agency Fund I MIT Solve I Dovetail Impact Foundation I Fast Forward I EkStep Foundation I Mulago I UBS Optimus Foundation I 360 ONE

ResponsiveCaregiving

A mothers’ meeting in Almora, Uttarakhand informs mothers of children aged 0 to 3 that baby’s health depends on mummy’s ...
09/03/2026

A mothers’ meeting in Almora, Uttarakhand informs mothers of children aged 0 to 3 that baby’s health depends on mummy’s health. The mothers learn to separate fact from myth around issues like breastfeeding, nutrition, hygiene, maternal health and more.

This month, Dost Education revitalises its outreach through phone-based technologies and community meetings to amplify best practices on responsive caregiving in the earliest years in keeping with the Navchetna framework.

This initiative is part of our growing support for families through the crucial empowering parents with the knowledge and confidence to create a sense of safety, help strengthen neural connections, and lay the foundations for their child’s development, language and learning from birth.

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