A library at his fingertips

Doesn’t Anmol look like a model student? When we visited the Pratham Center, we found Anmol delving through the center’s collection of books, picking out another story to read. The boy loves the center’s rich collection of books — it allows him to explore his passion for reading and writing. Anmol’s teachers say that he is a creative, thoughtful child with a unique understanding of the world. Reading and painting are two of his talents, and he aspires to become a writer.

You would never guess that Anmol first came to the Pratham Center because he was struggling in school. 10 year old Anmol is a student in Pratham’s Early Literacy and Numeracy Program (Balwachan), which is designed specifically for first and second grade students that are falling behind. Balwachan helps children develop and improve upon their reading and writing skills, recognize numbers up to 50, and solve simple addition and subtraction problems.

Balwachan includes creative learning activities that are not often part of the government school curriculum. Pratham aims to build both literacy skills and self-confidence through activities such as Picture Reading, where a child builds a story through pictures, and Story Time, where the students tell their own tale. Students also learn the concept of time and how to tell time.

For more uplifting stories and to see how your donation is making a difference, please visit the Pratham Readathon 2013 Campaign page and scroll to the stories section at the bottom of the page.