Project Brief:
Project Type: Formal Schools (description)
Primary Focus: remedial education (description)

Secondary Focus: other

Area: Tribal
Supporting Chapter Contact:
Dallas

Status: CLOSED - COMPLETED
Project Steward: Nitin Jayaram
Co-Steward: Satish Rao
Project Partner(s): Vijay Kulkarni
Project Address: Accelerated Reading Program
No. 633/634, “Deepam”
4th C Main, 6th B Cross OMBR Layout (Bhuvanagiri) Banaswadi,
Bangalore, Karnataka 560043
Stewarding Chapter: Dallas

Accelerated Reading Program: This project is directed towards underprivileged kids in Government schools of Karnataka, India. Though enrolled in schools, one in two kids failed to graduate or dropped out. One key reason is the lack of learning and as the years pass the weaker children lag further and further behind till they finally drop out. Orthodox teaching methods, lack of facilities, monotonous books further fuel the disinterest in kids. So a big challenge is to improve the quality of education provided especially in primary schools. Given the enormity of the situation the Government is seeking support from non-profits like Akshara foundation, ASHA for Education, Pragathi to name a few.

It was realized through some studies and pilot projects that reading cards, which consisted of text, illustrations and colors, worked as a great catalyst to draw the attention of the students. Teachers were also trained on unconventional teaching methods, like encourage the children to come forth and make an effort to read/describe the cards using the pictures in the card. The cards when used as a supplement or even a replacement in certain cases proved extremely useful in exponentially increasing their reading abilities. This turned a considerable amount of kids who could not even recognize a letter of the alphabet to reading words within a very short duration. Kids with minimal reading skills developed into good readers.

Such simple yet very effective means of education helped increase the number of kids graduating and more importantly keep them from dropping out. Non profits like Akshara foundation, Asha and Pragathi have been raising funds, supporting projects, working very closely with the schools/government, train teachers, monitor and record progress.

Funds provided by Asha help support Reading Cards that are used in this program by the kids to accelerate their reading abilities.