The language gap
90%
9 in 10 children in low-income countries are taught in a language they do not fully understand.
UNESCO · GEM Report · 2016
Textbooks & Economy
A textbook costs more than a family earns in a week.
In the communities Capyo serves, that means most students never get one. So we give the print files away free to local print shops and bookstores in every country we ship to. They print at the cost of paper, sell on their own street, and keep the margin.
- 100+ languages
- Grades 3 to 12
- Print files free to local shops
The gap
The textbooks in their hands are not their textbooks.
In the communities Capyo serves, the language, the supply, and the syllabus all break upstream of the classroom. Three numbers that explain why the student almost never gets the right book.
Textbook scarcity
1in 15
1 in 15 students has a textbook in sub-Saharan African primary schools. The rest share, copy, or go without.
World Bank · 2015
Burundi · Grade 6 reading
57%→28%
Reading proficiency halves when students switch from Kirundi to French.
UNICEF · Country Review · 2017
The bottleneck
Why a textbook almost never reaches the student.
Most of the books donated to the communities Capyo serves do not reach a classroom. The ones that do rarely fit the syllabus the student is tested on. Five reasons this happens, every cycle, in every country.
What goes wrong
- Donated curriculum, written for a different country, doesn't match the ministry exam.
- Imported textbooks priced at one to three weeks of household income per book.
- Central publishers and distributors take most of the margin before it ships.
- Books in the official language, when the classroom is taught in a local one.
- One title for the whole region, no version for the dialect or grade actually being taught.
What we change
- Each title is written for the ministry syllabus the student is tested on.
- Printed at the cheapest competent print shop within driving distance of the school.
- Sold by neighborhood retailers under a Capyo license, no central distributor in between.
- Written in the language of the classroom, with the dialect a teacher actually uses.
- One title per country, per grade, per language. As many editions as the country needs.
Capyo Textbooks
The book they need, made where they are.
Grade-level textbooks, written with local educators, in the language of the classroom. Printed at a shop on the same street as the school. Sold by the neighborhood retailer down the road.
Subjects available
These are the current subjects.
Science
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
Earth Sciences
Ecology
Mathematics
Arithmetic
Geometry
Algebra
Statistics
Trigonometry
World Geography
Physical
Human
Climate
Maps & Atlases
Regional
History
World History
Your country's
Ancient
Modern
English as a Second Language
Reading
Writing
Speaking
Grammar
French, Language & Identity
Reading
Writing
Culture
Civics
Civics & Citizenship
Government
Rights
Society
Public Health
Other Languages
Kirundi
Kreyòl
isiZulu
Spanish
+ on request
Written
With local educators, not for them.
Each title is co-developed with a teacher network in the region. Same syllabus the students will be tested on, in the language they actually speak in class. If a Capyo book ships in a country, a teacher from that country wrote it.
Printed
At the print shop down the road.
We hand the print file to local print shops for free. They run the job on their existing presses, on their schedule. No shipping, no customs, no central plant. If you can print a wedding program in town, you can print a Capyo textbook.
Sold & reinvested
By the bookshop on the corner.
A bookstore, a stationery shop, a market stall. We pass the file to neighborhood retailers free of charge. They print or stock, set a fair price for the community, and keep the margin. Every book is a paying job in the country it is sold in.
Built by educators, printed by neighbors, paid forward.
Jobs & economy
Every book pays a salary in the country it was made for.
A textbook in a Capyo classroom is not only a textbook. It is a paid print run at a local shop, a seasonal product on a neighborhood retailer's shelf, a royalty for the local educator who wrote it, and a margin that stays in the community. We give the files free, and three small businesses get to earn from each title.
$0
Licensing fee to local print shops and retailers. We hand over the file. They keep what they earn.
100%
Of the margin stays with the print shop and the retailer. No central distributor takes a cut.
3hands
Earn from every title. The local print shop, the neighborhood retailer, and the educator who co-wrote it.
The pair
Works with the Capyo platform.
If a school runs the Capyo platform, the textbook becomes its offline edition. Same syllabus, same dialect, same teacher voice. If a school does not have the platform, the textbook still stands on its own.
When the platform is running.
The book is the print version of every unit on screen. Students can move between page and tablet without skipping a line.
When it isn't.
The textbook still teaches the full course. Power outage, dead battery, laptop at home with a sibling: it doesn't matter.
If you run a print shop, a bookstore, or a school, talk to us.
We give print files free to local businesses in every country we ship to. The form goes straight to a founder. Tell us where you are and what you can do, and we will route you to the right person on the team.