2004
Pratham Books was set up by Rohini Nilekani, Ashok Kamath and Rekha Menon. As principal founder and donor, Rohini helped direct the strategy and vision of the organisation as Chairperson from January 2004 to December 2013.
2006
Launched Story Cards – cost-effective mini storybooks that bring to life an entire tale in four pages. Millions of story cards have been used extensively in large scale literacy programmes across several states in India.
2008
Pratham Books was one of six publishers in India selected to print and distribute 4 million books and 4 million story cards to 70,000 government schools in all 37 districts of Bihar through the Bihar Department of Education.
2009
A massive pan-India launch of the book, Cauvery, saw thousands of pledges collected from children across the country promising to save water. This was Pratham Books' first book printed on recycled paper using biodegradable ink.
2010
Launched Library-in-a-Classroom – a portable wall-mounted library of up to 120 storybooks in multiple Indian languages that can be found in classrooms, large and small, across India.
2011
The pilot programme of Reading Champions – Pratham Books’ initiative to enlist volunteers to help children in their communities discover the joy of reading through exciting events and storytelling sessions – was implemented.
2012
250+ volunteers signed up to be Pratham Books’ Reading Champions, and the International Literacy Day Champions programme made it to the Limca Book of Records. This initiative has grown to a community of 5700+ volunteers today.
2014
Launched the Adi Kahani series – a set of 10 tribal stories and 4 song cards illustrated by tribal artists in four of the many tribal languages spoken in Odisha that do not have a script of their own – Kui, Munda, Saura, Juanga.
2015
Launched StoryWeaver – a digital library of free children’s stories that enables every child to have open access to stories in their mother tongue language. Launched Donate-a-Book – a unique crowdfunding platform to help build libraries for the children who need them the most.
2016
Launched the Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno campaign, which distributed audio stories through mobile phones at zero cost to the children who listened to them.
2017
Launched a series of Phone Stories to engage children with short stories using words, moving images and sound, to be listened to and watched by children, parents, and educators on mobile phones.
By continuing to use our website, you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy. Agree