MUMBAI: In today's world of numerous news channels, loud opinions, debates, fake news, chaos and noise, there is little content that is appropriate for children in the news space. Yet it is essential our children understand current affairs from India and around the world. Here is where the idea of a kid friendly news channel for children, by children germinated in the minds of a group of like-minded mothers. igraasp comes as a breath of fresh air to provide children well-curated, constructive, age-relevant news in a creative and well-researched manner.
igraasp (which is the acronym for 'I Get Ready and Always Step Up) aims to start with a 15-minute weekly capsule of news delivered through their channel on YouTube every Sunday starting in February, 2020.
igraasp started when four entrepreneurial mothers – Gayatri Luthra, Priya Wadhawan, Ruchi Mitroo and Shikha Chaturvadi wanted to spread the joy of seeking for information, news and current affairs amongst children. They wanted to provide a news platform for kids which would make them 'future-ready'.
igraasps founder Priya Wadhawan said, “News is essential for children to build a habit to be updated about current affairs. However, we felt the need for a medium relevant for them as an audience to curate news from across genres and regions presented in a fun engaging manner, building their interest and awareness of the world around them.”
The founders strongly feel that a digital and child-appropriate current affairs news platform like igraasp will facilitate a child's critical thinking, their emotional intelligence, enable them to comprehend issues, the scale of impact, and appropriate means to effect solutions.
The anchors for the weekly episode are interestingly crowd-sourced taken from different schools for diversity. These students have also undergone workshops and training for news anchoring. The show is hosted by these students and features child-friendly news across segments including National news, International news, Sports, Environmental updates, Space &Technology and of course the F square (the Fun and Facts section).
A kid who igraasps will always be ready to strike a conversation, get a handle on a serious situation, quip and quote with proficiency, and always step up to the occasion.
