Eight year old Arbaz lives in a slum comminity in Mumbai and is a student of grade 4 in a local school. Arbaz struggles with reading and writing, and is currently enrolled in a Summer Camp organized by Pratham in his community. His teacher is confident that in a couple of weeks, Arbaz will be reading simple books. Arbaz is a very responsible child, wants to become a doctor and serve his community. He loves drawing and colouring- in the photograph he is holding up a painting depicting the Eid celebrations in his community.

Your donations will ensure that Arbaz and 34 other children like him are enrolled in Pratham’s Read India program where they are provided need-based instruction in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to bring them to the literacy levels expected of children their age.

Thank you, for doing your bit to ensure that ‘every child in India is in school and doing well‘.

Thirteen year old Kulsum lives in a slum community in Mumbai, and studies in grade 9 at a local school. She is the second of six children – five sisters and a brother- and her father is a tailor. Kulsum’s family realizes the importance of a good education, and are determined to ensure that all their daughters go to school. Kulsum and her younger siblings are all enrolled in the Read India Library Program, which makes learning fun. Though Kulsum is more fluent in Urdu than in English, she loves reading English books, and she wants to become a doctor when she grows up.

Your donations will ensure that Kulsum and 34 other children like her are enrolled in Pratham’s Read India program where they are provided need-based instruction in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to bring them to the literacy levels expected of children their age.

Thank you, for doing your bit to ensure that ‘every child in India is in school and learning well‘.

Afsaana is a shy but giggly eleven-year-old. She loves reading books, inside and outside of her fifth grade class. Her favorites are ghost stories, and she’ll sometimes act like a ghost to try to scare her younger siblings. She has two sisters and one brother, who likes to act like a ghost with her. She finds math difficult, but Pratham’s support class is helping her a lot. She doesn’t know what she wants to be when she’s older — maybe a writer of spooky stories!

Your donations will ensure that Afsaana and 34 other children like her are enrolled in Pratham’s Read India program where they are provided need-based instruction in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to bring them to the literacy levels expected of children their age.

Thank you, for doing your bit to ensure that ‘every child in India is in school and learning well‘.

Suhana Shaik is only nine-years-old, so she is a bit quiet, but always has a smile on her face. She has two sisters and two brothers, and her father works in an embroidery factory. Her favorite subject at Pratham is Urdu, because she understands it well and likes the Urdu stories that her teacher will read. She finds math hard, so she is always asking the teacher for help, but the teacher is always patient with her. Her teacher’s kindness and helpfulness have inspired Suhana to want to be a teacher as well. She wants to read lots of stories to the kids in her class, just like her teacher does.

Your donations will ensure that Suhana and 34 other children like her are enrolled in Pratham’s Read India program where they are provided need-based instruction in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to bring them to the literacy levels expected of children their age.

Thank you, for doing your bit to ensure that ‘every child in India is in school and learning well‘.

Thank you for ensuring that 35 children like Manish are enrolled in Pratham’s Read India program for a year.

Six year old Manish is a regular at the Balwachan Program conducted by Pratham in Jahangir Puri, New Delhi. He comes to the Center every day for three hours before school to practice the alphabet and learn English. The program is a boon to him, because he doesn’t learn much in the regular school in which he is enrolled.

Your donations will ensure that 35 children like Manish are enrolled in Pratham’s Read India program where they are provided need-based instruction in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to bring them to the literacy levels expected of children their age.

Thank you, for doing your part to ensure that every child in India is in school and learning well.

Naman is four years old and part of Pratham’s pre-school program. Through this program, Naman receives preparation for school on many levels. Pratham provides a well-rounded education for children that would otherwise be ill-prepared for school.

At first, preschool was tough for Naman. He cried frequently and did not make friends. After five months in the program he is excited by all of the daily activities. He enjoys playing with different shapes like circles, squares, rectangles and triangles. He shows us all of the shapes that he has drawn and proceeds to color them with dedication. He also enjoys reciting poems and telling stories.

Naman wants to be a doctor when he grows up.Thanks to your donation, Naman is a happy, confident learner and ready for school. Thank you for making this possible.

For more uplifting stories and to see how your donation is making a difference, please visit http://pratham.seeyourimpact.org/readathon2013/ and scroll to the stories section at the bottom of the page.

Three year old Raveena is part of the Pratham Balwadi Program which helps pre-school children develop good school habits, including physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.

She enjoys coloring and drawing trees on her slate. When we ask Raveena what her name is, she answers with a twinkle in her eye and pride in her voice, “My name is Raveena”. Raveena loves spending her days crafting and playing in this healthy, safe environment.

Thanks to your donation, Raveena is a happy, confident learner that is prepared for school. Thank you for making this possible.

For more uplifting stories and to see how your donation is making a difference, please visit http://pratham.seeyourimpact.org/readathon2013/ and scroll to the
stories section at the bottom of the page.

An active member of his class, Piyush participates in all activities and sometimes even invents his own. He recognizes numbers from 1 to 20 as well as the names of fruits and shapes. What he really enjoys is painting. He shows all visitors his art work with a lot of pride and enthusiasm.

According to his teachers, his ambition changes every week. On the day we visited his class, Piyush’s ambition was to be a shark so that he could eat everybody up!

Thanks to your donation, Piyush is a happy, confident learner. Thank you for making this possible.

For more uplifting stories and to see how your donation is making a difference, please visit http://pratham.seeyourimpact.org/readathon2013/ and scroll to the stories section at the bottom of the page.

When he first joined the class, he cried and did not want to leave his mother’s side. After spending just two months in the program, he became one of the liveliest in his class.

Suraj thoroughly enjoys and participates in all activities of the class. He can count and recognize numbers from 1-10 and recognize colors. As soon as we entered his class, he greeted us with the loudest voice and instantly showed us a paper fan that he made during his craft lesson.

His eyes lit up when he was told that his picture will be taken and immediately posed for the camera; and as soon as he was satisfied he said ‘sabka photo khincho, please’ ”please take everyone’s pictures.” His confidence was very impressive!

According to Suraj’s teachers, he is very naughty and loves attention. “This leads him to constantly distract the class, but that is not necessarily a bad thing,” says his teacher. “It helps the shy children to open up, interact and express themselves – and that is what preschool is about.”

Thanks to your donation, Suraj is a happy, confident learner. Thanks for making this possible.

For more uplifting stories and to see how your donation is making a difference, please visit http://pratham.seeyourimpact.org/readathon2013/ and scroll to the stories section at the bottom of the page.

In the pre-test at her first camp, Nisha was at word level, which meant that she could only recognize single words. She was grouped with children who were at the same level and taught via the Pratham teaching techniques.

Learning Camp is a short duration, high intensity intervention where children are taught through interactive methods using techniques that help them grasp better and learn quicker.

After just five days of camp, Nisha showed great progress. She was able to read an entire paragraph. Her math levels also improved from the first camp to the second. Initially, she could only recognize numbers. By the finish of the second camp, Nisha could solve addition and subtractions without any difficulty.

Nisha’s parents told the Pratham staff how she had finally started enjoying her studies and for the first time looked forward to attending classes.

Thanks to you, Nisha has learned to read and do math. Your donation made it all possible.

For more uplifting stories and to see how your donation is making a difference, please visit http://pratham.seeyourimpact.org/readathon2013/ and scroll to the stories section at the bottom of the page.