To make Early years education a reality for all children and
3. To make affordable private schools in rural India, model schools The journey started in 2003 with two very successful libraries/experience centers in Bangalore and Chennai. In 2004, this vision was extended to include children from the underprivileged communities by collaborating with local NGOs to set up ‘active libraries’ in govern
ment schools and community centers. An integral part of developing such libraries is The GROW BY Reading program, a comprehensive activity-based program designed to encourage reading so that it becomes a lifelong habit among children. GROW BY Reading Program is a holistic, activity-based library program developed for first-generation school-goers. Through this program, children are led to read books in their language, at their skill levels and are helped with improving their reading comprehension and fluency at a pace that they are comfortable with. The program has been defined by six reading levels – Green, Red, Orange, White, Blue and Yellow – with Green being the beginner’s level and Yellow being ideal for the independent reader. The story books in a library are levelled using this criteria; children are assessed for their reading levels and matched to the right book based on the same criteria. Today this program:
- Is available in 5 languages Hindi, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, and English
- Has been adopted by almost 450 government and low cost private schools, reaching out to 100,000 children across 9 states
- Additionally it has been adopted by leading organizations such as Room to Read, Azim Premji Foundation, Akshara Foundation, Masoom Foundation, Arcot Lutheran Church, Atma Foundation, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, etc.
- Is implemented in 23 districts by APSWRES- Andhra Pradesh Government Residential Schools
