Language Program

According to the ASER report, children in rural government schools lack basic reading and writing skills. They are not able to get education commensurate with the grades in primary classes. To address these challenges, we started the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) program in a government school. We are focusing on Grade 1 and Grade 2 to achieve the necessary reading fluency, comprehension and foundational literacy.

Library Program

Library in School: We are setting up libraries in schools to provide children with easy access to storybooks. Engaging activities like read-aloud, book talks, and storytelling help encourage children to read and build their confidence. Additionally, we are training teachers to manage the school libraries after our intervention independently. Our aim is to help children think through stories and connect them with their life experiences. According to Gordon Wells, understanding our world through storytelling is essential to all aspects of learning, as stories about events and people allow us to gain insights into ourselves and our world.

Community Library: Our community library operates every day, including Sundays, welcoming children at any time to read and borrow books. With a focus on developing language skills and fostering reading habits, we currently serve 250 children in our reading room. Additionally, we plan to expand our library's book collection to ensure sustained engagement with the children.

Stories of Change

Our reading room (library) in Sirsi is a hub for children who come to enjoy reading and various programs. With support from parents and the community, we impact around 250 children, while also serving as a resource center to train facilitators for government school teachers running the library program. Working with government schools allows us to reach even more children and collaborate with teachers, with formal permission from the Block Education Officer (BEO) to continue our work with ZP school Chanoda and ZP school Hivra.

Impact: impacting 9 teachers and 170 children so far.

Our Kalpakta library user, Prajakta exclaimed, 'Here, no one is scolding us.' This powerful statement showcases the children's genuine engagement with books and enjoyment of reading. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, our reading rooms have provided government school children with an invaluable opportunity to persist in their educational pursuits. Our unwavering commitment to fostering constant engagement with these young minds has resulted in the development of meaningful reading habits that will undoubtedly shape their futures.