Honouring our glorious Language Movement, two software companies have released two mobile apps for the Android platform.
The Ethics Advanced Technology Limited (EATL) has developed and released an app named 21 Amar based on February 21, the Language Movement Day that later became the International Mother Language Day.
The Surjomukhi Limited, another software company, created an app called Hatekhori to teach kids Bangla alphabet through innovative animations and graphics.
Rumon Khan, assistant manager of EATL marketing, told the Dhaka Tribune that through their app users would be able to learn the glorious history of the 1952 Language Movement.
The app has a rich collection of text and rare photographs of our Language Movement, and histories about the context of the cultural and political revolt of the 50s, the beginning of movement. It also contains brief biographies of the language martyrs.
The app has embedded popular songs on the theme of Language Movement – Ora amar mukher bhasha kaira nite chay, Amar bhaiyer rokte rangano ekushey February, Moder gorob moder asha – with lyrics.
Users could also watch video documentaries on the Language Movement through Youtube links in the application, said Rumon.
App developer Subrata Kumar Mohanto told the Dhaka Tribune that he had also incorporated the facility to share wallpapers, pictures and other contents of the app by using the social network.
Fida Haq, CEO of the Surjomukhi Limited that has developed the app Hatekhori, said: “In our childhood, we used to learn Bangla alphabet with the help of slate and ‘khori’ [white chalk]. But those days are gone now.”
Little children of these days were more eager to play with gadgets such as mobile phones and tabs, he said. “Considering that fact, many western companies have developed educational apps. I wanted to do the same for our country by developing an app which will help children learn Bangla alphabet through fun.”
The app has options to teach children the basic alphabet, creating words using those alphabets and, finally, constructing sentences with those words. The whole process is accompanied by beautiful illustrations suitable for children.
“Four developers have relentlessly worked for a year to develop the app. It is our homage to the glorious Language Movement.”
