MANILA, PHILIPPINES — NexPage, the world’s first nonfiction, translated book summary mobile application (app), has launched in the Philippines to provide Filipinos greater accessibility to books, knowledge, and learning opportunities, so as to raise literacy and bolster education in the country.
The end goal is to improve the literacy of Filipinos so that they have more opportunities to ascend the socio-economic ladder to earn a better income and live a better life.
Education needs in the Philippines
The State of Philippine Education Report 2023 shared that there is an urgent need for transformative change in the country’s education system. Statistics revealed that 9 out of 10 children aged 10 years old were unable to read simple texts. In 2019, while 82.4% of Filipinos aged 25 and over have reported completing primary education, the completion rate for secondary education drops significantly to 30.5% for the said cohort. The completion rate for a bachelor’s or equivalent degree decreases even further to 24.4%. Only 19% achieved the minimum proficiency level of Overall Reading Literacy.
NexPage attributed it to:
- Resource and Financial Challenges: A quarter of parents reported that their children are not learning adequately because of insufficient resources, financial difficulties, subpar learning environments, and a shortage of teachers to handle the rising number of students in public schools, despite efforts to offer students learning options that suit their circumstances.
- Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Covid-19 pandemic’s abrupt arrival took the educational system off-guard and made already difficult problems worse. The lockdown measures put in place in 2020 exacerbated the disparities in the educational system, leaving more students behind and widening the learning gaps at all levels. Over a million pupils were unable to enroll when institutions were closed and blended learning was implemented in 2020.
- Rising Unemployment Rate: The pandemic had a significant effect on the nation’s workforce as well, with the unemployment rate rising to 17.7% by the beginning of the lockdowns. With employment and earnings becoming higher-priority issues, learning and development took a backseat.
Economic impact due to illiteracy
According to a recent report by the World Literacy Foundation, the economic impact of the illiteracy issue is estimated to be P258 billion ($4.72 billion) annually. There is a direct correlation between literacy and income – literate persons earn an average of 30% to 42% more. To assist Filipinos to earn more, the long-term solution is to help raise their literacy level.
In addition, people who cannot read or write struggle to find opportunities to increase their earnings due to the absence of basic literacy skills needed for vocational education or training. The study also found that illiteracy led to lost earnings, limited employability, and lost business productivity.
Improving our world one person at a time
NexPage believes that education and knowledge can change the world. Education leads to economic, social, and cultural development, while knowledge opens up more job opportunities and can enhance the quality of life. With knowledge, everyone can better understand history, the environment, technological advancements, and other specific subjects. Education is also the best tool to combat poverty.
NexPage’s CEO, Tan Zhi Rong, said, “The Philippines ranked second highest in English proficiency in East and Southeast Asia, only behind Singapore. We believe that our English content will appeal to Filipino readers. Our book summaries are perfect for delivering key insights in minutes, saving time and money for the user. With greater knowledge and self-development opportunities, we can help improve the employability and income of Filipinos.
Having content already in Bahasa Indonesia, NexPage also plans to launch content in Tagalog in the near future, reaching out to more Filipinos who may prefer to read in their native language. Our end goal is to impart knowledge, encourage self-improvement, and ultimately, change and improve people’s lives. We look forward to working with the local government, schools, non-profit organizations, and other like-minded partners on this shared agenda.”
Wide content range
NexPage offers a wide range of content, appealing to different audience segments. There are over 20 categories of book titles, including Business Management, Technology, Finance, International Bestsellers, Personal Development, Health & Wellness, Parenting, and Science, just to name a few.
Every week, NexPage also releases a free read of the week, where non-paying users can also gain knowledge and insights via this free read. Paid subscribers have unlimited access to all content and can also favorite titles to their personal library in the app.
Bite-sized content
NexPage found that many people are interested to learn more about the books but don’t know the language or are unwilling to spend the time to read the whole book. As such, a pool of translators, editors, designers, and developers extracted the best ideas from those books and translate them to share with the rest of the world. They distill the best insights and key points from each book and summarise them into a 15-minute read, helping readers extract the best value using the least amount of time.
AI-enabled technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is used to identify content categories and book titles that NexPage app users are searching for. Proprietary tech and processes also allow NexPage to publish a fresh, new book summary as fast as within 24 hours based on user’s search behavior. AI is also deployed in in-app book recommender and marketing activities.
Listen as you go
To cater to the audiobook market and users who prefer to have the book read aloud to them, NexPage has also made audio versions of its book titles available. Users can now listen to their favourite books on the go, jogging, at the gym, or while driving, allowing them to multitask with their hands freed up.
Interesting and customizable features
NexPage provides a wide range of features that allow users to customize their preferred reading experience. These include ‘day’ and ‘night’ reading modes, a selection of background colors to suit user preference, different reading font types, the ability to adjust font kerning and font sizes, a user-friendly book search function, a language selector, and more. You can also highlight, annotate and save your favorite quotes from the books. All your saved annotations will appear in “My Library,” so that you can view them all at once.
NexPage believes that everyone should have the opportunity to gain knowledge and learn about other cultures without being limited by language or distribution barriers. It envisions a world in which someone in the United States can get key ideas in English from a book originally written in Tagalog, and someone in the Philippines can get key ideas from a book originally written in English, Chinese, or even Korean.
NexPage is creating this world by producing high-quality summaries of the best nonfiction books from around the world and delivering them in the native language so that people can save time while reading in their preferred language. At this moment, NexPage’s product is unique in the market, and the Philippines has no close alternative.
When people can incorporate NexPage ideas into their lives, the brand assists them in their journey to become life-long learners and make the world a better place by sharing knowledge and ideas.
NexPage’s subscription premiums in the Philippines are currently priced at PHP 149 for the monthly membership and P1490 for the yearly membership. The affordable rates allow for broader acceptance and adoption
The NexPage mobile app is available in both IOS and Android formats and can be downloaded here.
