Ayo Arang Programme — Tools, Apps and Websites That Speak Santali

Ayo Arang · Programme Notes

Ayo Arang Programme

Tools, websites and apps that speak Santali — for teachers, students and elders, in language anyone can follow.

Prasanta Hembram Santali technology & open knowledge Reading time ≈ 15 minutes

In high school I typed my own language into a search box and the screen answered with empty rectangles. Little boxes, one after another. I thought the internet had failed. It had not — my phone simply had no way to draw the letters. That day taught me what I have spent twenty years proving: a language survives on paper, but it grows only when it lives inside the machines we use every day. This page is a plain-language map of everything that helped — the tools, the apps, the government services, and the people who built them without waiting for permission.

Nothing below needs a computer science degree. Every entry says what the thing is, what it does for Santali, and what you can do with it. Where a tool can also put money in your hand, I have said so — a language that cannot feed anyone will not be carried forward by the young.

Two words to know before anything else

Without these two, the rest of the page makes no sense.

Ol Chiki

ᱚᱞ ᱪᱤᱠᱤ — the script

The writing system for Santali: one set of letters, no capitals. One letter has one shape, always, which is why it is simple to type. Many letters look as though they were drawn from a field, a hill or a bird — not decoration, but memory.

Unicode

The big international list

A single list, kept by a worldwide body, giving every letter of every language its own permanent number. If a letter is on that list, any phone or website can store and send it. Ol Chiki is on the list. My boxes were a phone that had the numbers but not the picture.

Input tools: how you actually type Santali

Fonts, keyboards and converters — the layer that turns a phone into a Santali typewriter.

A font that draws the letters

Needed on every device

A font is the drawing of each letter. The free Noto Sans Ol Chiki family, from Google, covers every Ol Chiki character and installs in one minute on Windows, Mac and Linux. Without a font, a correct file still shows as boxes.

Try thisInstall it before you print any Santali document, so your paper does not come out full of rectangles.

Ol Chiki keyboard on Android

Phone · free

Several Ol Chiki keyboards are on the Play Store, and the Ol Chiki Learning app includes one. After installing, open Settings → System → Languages & input, add the keyboard, then switch between languages with the globe key on the space bar row.

Try thisSend one Santali message to a family member today. Typing is a muscle; it learns by doing, not by reading about it.

Keyman and layout builders on a computer

Windows · free

Keyman, made by the language-software group SIL, installs keyboards for hundreds of scripts. If no Ol Chiki layout fits, Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator lets you map each letter to a key of your choosing — build it once and share it with a whole school.

Try thisBuild one layout, save it, and put the file on a pen drive for every teacher in your school.

Roman-to-Ol Chiki converters

Web · free

A converter is a page where you type Santali in Roman letters and Ol Chiki appears beside it; you copy the result. Community blogs host these, and Google Input Tools does the same for many Indian scripts — the fastest route for anyone who never learned to type in Ol Chiki.

Try thisConvert one paragraph you already wrote in Roman letters, then paste it into a document with a proper font. That is a complete Santali workflow, free of cost.

Copy-paste as a fallback

Any device · zero setup

When nothing else is available, open a Santali Wikipedia page, copy the letters you need, and paste them into your message. It is clumsy, but it works on a borrowed phone with no keyboard installed, and it has rescued more than one urgent notice.

Try thisKeep one page of the full Ol Chiki alphabet saved in your notes app as an emergency palette.

Changing the date and time on Android

Phone settings

A small but constant annoyance: a wrong clock makes every message, photo and form look careless. These are the steps, written in Ol Chiki so that an elder in your family can follow them without help.

Try thisSit with one older person and do it together once. It takes two minutes and saves a hundred questions.

ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ ᱛᱮ — Android ᱯᱷᱚᱱ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱢᱟᱹᱦᱤᱛ ᱟᱨ ᱚᱠᱛᱚ ᱵᱚᱫᱚᱞ

ᱟᱢᱟᱜ ᱮᱱᱰᱨᱚᱭᱮᱰ ᱯᱷᱚᱱ ᱨᱮ ᱥᱮᱴᱤᱝᱥ ᱮᱯ ᱡᱷᱤᱡᱽ ᱢᱮ᱾ ᱞᱟᱛᱟᱨ ᱥᱮᱫ ᱥᱠᱨᱚᱞ ᱢᱮ ᱟᱨ ᱥᱤᱥᱴᱮᱢ ᱨᱮ ᱴᱮᱯ ᱢᱮ — ᱟᱫᱚᱢ ᱯᱷᱚᱱ ᱨᱮ ᱱᱚᱣᱟ ᱫᱚ ᱵᱟᱹᱲᱛᱤ ᱥᱮᱴᱤᱝᱥ ᱠᱚ ᱢᱮᱛᱟᱜᱼᱟ᱾ ᱰᱮᱴ ᱟᱨ ᱴᱟᱭᱤᱢ ᱨᱮ ᱴᱮᱯ ᱢᱮ᱾ ᱱᱤᱛᱚᱜ ᱥᱮᱴ ᱴᱟᱭᱤᱢ ᱚᱴᱚᱢᱮᱴᱤᱠᱮᱞᱤ ᱟᱨ ᱥᱮᱴ ᱴᱟᱭᱤᱢ ᱡᱳᱱ ᱚᱴᱚᱢᱮᱴᱤᱠᱮᱞᱤ ᱢᱮᱱᱟᱜ ᱵᱟᱨᱭᱟ ᱥᱩᱭᱤᱪ ᱵᱚᱸᱫᱽ ᱢᱮ; ᱡᱩᱫᱤ ᱟᱢ ᱚᱱᱟ ᱠᱚ ᱚᱱ ᱜᱮᱢ ᱫᱚᱦᱚᱭᱟ, ᱯᱷᱚᱱ ᱫᱚ ᱟᱢᱟᱜ ᱚᱠᱛᱚ ᱵᱚᱫᱚᱞ ᱮ ᱥᱩᱫᱷᱟᱹᱨ ᱤᱫᱤᱭᱟ ᱟᱨ ᱟᱢᱟᱜ ᱵᱚᱫᱚᱞ ᱫᱚ ᱟᱫᱚᱜᱼᱟ᱾ ᱰᱮᱴ ᱨᱮ ᱴᱮᱯ ᱢᱮ ᱟᱨ ᱫᱤᱱ, ᱪᱟᱸᱫᱚ ᱟᱨ ᱥᱮᱨᱢᱟ ᱵᱟᱪᱷᱟᱣ ᱢᱮ᱾ ᱴᱟᱭᱤᱢ ᱨᱮ ᱴᱮᱯ ᱢᱮ ᱟᱨ ᱴᱟᱲᱟᱝ ᱟᱨ ᱴᱤᱲᱤᱡ ᱥᱮᱴ ᱢᱮ᱾ ᱡᱩᱫᱤ ᱟᱢᱟᱜ ᱡᱤᱞᱟᱹ ᱨᱮ ᱵᱷᱩᱞ ᱴᱟᱭᱤᱢ ᱡᱳᱱ ᱧᱮᱞᱚᱜ ᱠᱟᱱᱟ, ᱴᱟᱭᱤᱢ ᱡᱳᱱ ᱨᱮ ᱴᱮᱯ ᱢᱮ ᱟᱨ ᱞᱤᱥᱴ ᱠᱷᱚᱱ ᱴᱷᱤᱠᱟᱜ ᱵᱟᱪᱷᱟᱣ ᱢᱮ᱾ ᱚᱱᱟ ᱥᱠᱨᱤᱱ ᱨᱮᱜᱮ ᱡᱩᱫᱤ ᱟᱢᱮᱢ ᱠᱷᱚᱡᱚᱜᱼᱟ, ᱒᱔-ᱴᱟᱲᱟᱝ ᱯᱷᱚᱨᱢᱮᱴ ᱨᱮᱦᱚᱸᱢ ᱵᱚᱫᱚᱞ ᱫᱟᱲᱮᱭᱟᱜᱼᱟ᱾ ᱱᱚᱣᱟ ᱛᱟᱭᱚᱢ, ᱟᱢᱟᱜ ᱞᱚᱠ ᱥᱠᱨᱤᱱ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱜᱷᱩᱲᱤ, ᱠᱚᱞ ᱦᱤᱥᱴᱨᱤ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱚᱠᱛᱚ ᱟᱨ ᱯᱷᱚᱴᱚ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱢᱟᱹᱦᱤᱛ ᱠᱚᱫᱚ ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱴᱷᱤᱠᱚᱜᱼᱟ᱾

A machine learns only from what we label. If we label nothing, it guesses — and its guess becomes a confusing result in everybody’s search.

Tools for teachers, students and elders

The same digital legacy, seen from three different chairs in the room.

For teachers: DIKSHA and Eklavya

Teaching material · free

DIKSHA is the national platform where teachers share lessons, worksheets and training videos; Eklavya carries NCERT and CBSE material, including Santali from class 1 to class 12. Together they mean a Santali teacher in a two-room school has the same resources as one in a city.

Try thisDownload one chapter and one worksheet before the week starts, so a weak network cannot spoil the lesson.

For teachers: StoryWeaver

Children’s books · free · open licence

A free library of thousands of illustrated children’s stories, available in Santali (Ol Chiki). Because the books carry an open licence, a teacher may print them, translate them and read them aloud in class without asking anyone’s permission.

Try thisPrint four stories, staple them into booklets, and send them home with the youngest children.

For students: the Ol Chiki Learning app

Android · free

A small app built specifically to teach the Ol Chiki letters — how each one looks, sounds and joins. For a student who reads Santali at home but has never written it, this is the shortest path from speaking to writing.

Try thisTwenty minutes a day for two weeks is enough to read a newspaper headline in Ol Chiki.

For students: Wiktionary and Google Translate

Dictionary · translation

A dictionary volunteers can correct, and a translator that turns an unreadable page into a readable one. Used together — look the word up, then check it in context — they are the strongest study pair a Santali student has ever had.

Try thisWhen a word is missing from Wiktionary, add it. You will remember it forever, and so will the next student.

For elders: listening instead of reading

Text to speech

Bhasha Anuvad and the Indus app read Santali text aloud. For an elder whose eyes tire, this turns any document — a notice, a court paper, the Constitution — into something to simply listen to.

Try thisRecord the audio once and share it on WhatsApp. One recording can serve a whole village.

For elders: familiar menus in familiar words

MX Player · Firefox

A video player and a web browser, both used by crores of people, both offering Santali in their menus. A translated menu lets an elder use the same app as everyone else without asking a grandchild for help.

Try thisChange the language in the two apps your family uses most, then show where the setting lives.

Government applications worth knowing

Free, official, and almost unknown in our villages. These are the ones that matter.

Bhashini and Bhasha Daan

National Language Translation Mission

Bhashini is the government’s translation platform: text to text, text to speech, speech to text, document translation. Inside it, Bhasha Daan asks citizens to donate their own voice and sentences — “Bolo India” for speech, “Likho India” for text, “Suno India” for listening and checking.

Try thisDonate twenty Santali sentences once. Every donation makes the next translation of our language slightly less wrong.

DIKSHA

Teachers · Ministry of Education

Lesson plans, worksheets, audio and video for every class and subject, in Indian languages, free. Teachers can also take short training courses and earn a certificate for service records.

Try thisSearch for your subject in Santali first, and if it is thin, upload your own best lesson. That is how a language edition grows.

Eklavya (CBSE)

Classes 1–12 · Santali

The board’s own learning site, with Santali material from class 1 to class 12, on the web and as an app. It is the closest thing to a complete school library in our language, and it costs nothing.

Try thisParents: open it once with your child and save the Santali section to the home screen.

ePathshala, NDLI, SWAYAM

Books · library · courses

ePathshala carries NCERT textbooks, including Santali titles; the National Digital Library holds lakhs of books and papers; SWAYAM offers free courses from school to university level, with certificates.

Try thisOne college student in the family should know all three by name. Teach the youngest one first.

DigiLocker and UMANG

Documents · services

DigiLocker keeps official documents — marksheets, certificates, licences — in one verified place, so a student never again loses an original in a hostel. UMANG gathers hundreds of central and state services into one app.

Try thisUpload one certificate to DigiLocker today. In an emergency, a digital copy has saved more than one family.

Bhasha Anuvad

Translation · speech

The government portal that translates text, reads text aloud, and turns speech into text. It is the tool I use to listen to long documents instead of reading them, and the one I recommend first to anyone who says they have no time to read.

Try thisPaste a paragraph of an official letter and listen to it once before you sign anything.

Why government tools matter more than they look

Private apps come and go with their funding. A government platform is supposed to stay. When Santali is present in Bhashini and DIKSHA, it is present in the machinery that decides how the next generation studies, works and reads the law.

Learning Santali — and earning from it

A language that can pay a young person is a language that survives the next generation.

Genius

Song lyrics · reputation, not cash

The world’s largest lyrics site, where volunteers transcribe and annotate songs. Santali film and church songs are often missing or full of errors; adding correct Ol Chiki lyrics puts our music where the whole internet can find it. There is no payment, but your name stays attached to the work.

Try thisTranscribe one song you know perfectly. Ask the singer before you publish someone else’s new composition.

Karya

Paid language data work

A platform that pays people to record, transcribe and label text and speech in Indian languages, so AI systems can learn them. Work is task-based and paid per task — for a student with a phone and a quiet room, the most direct income our language has ever produced.

Try thisRegister, finish the training task honestly, and treat it as a part-time job rather than a lottery.

Josh Talks and KGen

Speaking · creator work

Josh Talks publishes short motivational talks in Indian languages and supports creators whose stories perform; KGen is a creator platform for short-form work. Both need one skill: telling a true story well, in your own language.

Try thisRecord a two-minute video about your own life in Santali. Not about the language — about your life. That is what people watch.

YouTube, done properly

Captions · advertising

YouTube pays through advertising once a channel qualifies, and captions make a video findable for years. Upload from a computer browser, not the phone app, set the video language to Santali, and add captions. Almost nobody in our community does this — which is why it works.

Try thisFix the language setting on the videos you have already uploaded. It takes five minutes per video and changes who can find them.

Translation and subtitling work

Freelance · local demand

Schools, clinics, NGOs, offices and YouTube channels all need Santali text and subtitles, and almost none know whom to ask. A student who types Ol Chiki cleanly has a service to sell, starting with the institutions in their own block.

Try thisTranslate one page for a local organisation free of charge. Ask them to name you when someone else needs the same work.

Santhali Mingle and community apps

Community · discovery

Small apps built by independent developers who added Santali because users asked rather than because a company plan told them to. They matter out of proportion to their size: they prove that a Santali-speaking user is a market worth serving.

Try thisSend one developer a thank-you or a bug report. Both are feedback, and feedback is what keeps a small language on a roadmap.

An honest warning

None of these will make anyone rich. Together they can pay a data pack, a bus fare, a semester’s books — and keep a young person inside the language instead of leaving it behind for English. That is the real return.

Why editing Santali Wikipedia matters

And five free steps to make your first edit today.

Every AI system you will use in the next ten years is trained on text that already exists online. When a language has little text, the machine has little to learn from, and its answers are thin, wrong or missing. Santali Wikipedia is therefore not a hobby: it is the largest body of freely licensed Santali text in the world, and the source that translation tools and search engines read from.

It began in the Wikimedia Incubator, a nursery where a new-language encyclopedia is written article by article before it earns its own web address. Ours started with a handful of articles by people who were learning grammar as they wrote. Today it stands beside more than three hundred language editions, on the same software, with the same rights. Nobody gave us permission. We wrote until the sample was good enough.

There is a quieter reason. When a student searches for their own village and finds an article, the message is that their world is worth describing. When they find nothing, the message is the opposite. An encyclopedia is a mirror, and every language deserves to be in it.

Five free steps to your first edit

Create an account on Santali Wikipedia. It costs nothing and takes two minutes; your edits then carry your name instead of an address number.
Install an Ol Chiki keyboard, or keep a converter open in a second tab. You cannot build a habit around a tool you dread opening.
Pick a small subject you know completely — your village, a festival, a local crop, a school — and write three true sentences. Short and correct beats long and copied.
Add one reference: a book, a newspaper page, an official website. An article with a source survives; one without it gets deleted, and beginners take that personally when they should not.
Watch your edit in the history page, and leave a message for the person who corrects you. Thanking a stranger for a correction is how every one of us learned grammar.

Who is doing this work

Individual bloggers digitising Santali at their own cost, in their own time. Visit them, read them, and use their contact forms.

Ayo Arang

Maina Madam

Grammar notes, spelling discipline and teaching material. It is where many of us learned the rules of Santali writing properly, one correction at a time.

Birmali

Ashwin Bhanjan Murmu

An early home for Santali computing — fonts, keyboards, Wikipedia work. Ashwin da was among the admins who welcomed a boy with a box-filled screen into the community.

Ol Chiki Tech

Ramjit Tudu

Technical writing on Ol Chiki, keyboards and Unicode — and, for me, the place where Santali grammar finally became clear.

olchikidr.blogspot.com

Karia Basky

santals.in · digitizesantali

Two sites of patient digitisation: articles and resources on Santali language and culture.

santals.in · digitizesantali.blogspot.com

Jaher Orag ᱡᱟᱦᱮᱨ ᱚᱲᱟᱜ

Bijendra Hansda Purudhul

Writing on Santali culture, the sacred grove and community life, alongside his work as a Wikipedia editor.

jaherorag.blogspot.com

Santhali Mingle

Prasanta Hembram

My own space for Santali technology, Unicode art and experiments with the shapes of the letters.

How to approach them

Every one of these blogs has a contact form. Write in Santali if you can, in English if you cannot, and say exactly what you need — a font, a spelling, a translation. Do not apologise for asking; asking is how the network grows. Between them these blogs also hold a great deal on Santali culture — festivals, songs, rituals, village life — that no textbook carries.

Start this week

Four actions, under half an hour in total, no technical knowledge required.

What you do	Where	Time	Why it matters
Set your video’s language to Santali and add captions	YouTube, from a computer browser	5 min	Search engines and AI can only find a language that has been labelled as that language.
Add one word to the dictionary	Wiktionary	10 min	Every translation tool learns from dictionaries. One entry helps every future translation.
Write three sentences about your village	Santali Wikipedia	10 min	A language with an encyclopedia is a language that has been taken seriously.
Donate twenty sentences of your voice	Bhasha Daan	5 min	Speech tools improve only when speakers of the language record themselves.

Why this is your work, not mine

Every tool on this page exists because ordinary people — teachers, students, bloggers, an admin who sent a stranger a friend request — kept asking, correcting each other and writing. I did not build Google Translate; nobody in our community did. We made it necessary, by using it, testing it and reporting what broke.

A friend once asked me what Sripathi sir had written in his Santali translation of the Constitution. I told him: open the app, scan the page, read it yourself. He does it every day now. If someone who is not Santali finds our language worth using, we have no excuse.

I am a Santali. I use Santali tools. By using them, I have developed myself. You are Santali too. Use the tools, and you will develop yourself.

Learn the technology — not to replace our language, but to carry it further than our voices can reach. ᱡᱚᱦᱟᱨ.