Another such initiative by Pratham, Read India, aims to inculcate the 3R’s among children across the country — reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. It focuses on the introduction of ‘learning to read’ (and arithmetic ) activities in schools. This includes simple interventions like incorporating a reading period aimed at improving fluency in reading to teaching the use of alphabets.
“Read India is a focussed campaign and we have received excellent feedback. We have been using various teaching-learning materials besides reading cards and, as a result, many students who struggled earlier have now learnt to read. In fact, we are now moving from learning to read to reading to learn,” elaborates Madhav Chavan, founderdirector , Pratham.
The reading to learn campaign can definitely get an enormous boost by partnering with community radio initiatives across India, especially those that reach the community of school children in government schools. We are in the process of launching a community radio station in Gurgaon, and the idea is to have a “book” slot, during which children can read, and listen the book being read on the radio – a no-cost audio-book that every child can access at no cost. It would, of course, mean, the a book bank being maintained in target schools.
Arti
arti@trfindia.org