Challenge
India has achieved near-universal enrolment of children in schools and implemented a system of automatic passing till Class 5. These appear to be promising developments but ground reality spells a different tale. These developments shed no light on the quality content of education and learning that children engage in, hardly promoting basic functional literacy among disadvantaged children. 75% of students of Class 8 are unable to comprehend Class 4 text.
Description
By scaling its successful “I Love Reading” (ILR) program, Katha addresses the deep-rooted problems of quality and content for early-learners through a three-tiered approach involving meaningful and relevant content creation and dissemination for India’s underserved children, intensive teachers’ training programs, and community engagement. Katha’s approach equips children with basic and functional literacy along with essential higher-order skills.
Outcomes
Katha's ILR program has been implemented in 1000 schools and 890 slum communities in the Delhi NCR region, significantly improving literacy rates, functional language skills, and overall education quality for early-grade learners.
