Room to Read set to launch a nationwide campaign

by Suman Gupta

August 14, 2021, India: Room to Read announces, a powerful, three-week long campaign #MaiJahanSeekhnaWahan for the early grade children across India starting August 15 to September 8, 2021.

On the occasion of Independence Day, this nation-wide campaign called #MainJahanSeekhnaWahan where #IndiaGetsReadingAtHome will be launched across nine Indian states: Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand and the resources developed for the campaign would be translated in four different languages, i.e., Hindi, Marathi, Telegu and Kannada.The campaign shall be inline with the initiatives taken by the state governments to bring learning to where the child is.

This three-week campaign is positioned around sending a clear message to the parents that a. learning is possible anywhere! and b. how well it can be made possible. The campaign #MaiJahanSeekhnaWahan where #IndiaGetsReadingAtHome is focused on bringing learning to where the child is, especially in the new normal. The campaign says that the child can learn anywhere, at any time, with any available resources if the space/environment is congenial. While RtR acknowledges the explicit learning outcomes through teaching-learning at school, the idea is to get parents/caregivers invested in the child’s learning and create a favourable atmosphere for holistic development.

The objective of the said campaign is to spread awareness and enable parents for supporting their child’s learning ecosystem in simple ways, through the launch of this powerful campaign, RtR wants to empower parents and communities to become active partners in helping their children ‘read’ and ‘learn’ especially when schools are shut. The best learning experience for children comes when the significant adults in their lives-parents, teachers, and other family and community members work together to encourage and support them. Schools alone cannot address all of a child’s developmental needs, The meaningful involvement of teachers, parents and support from the community are essential. This is a Room to Read initiative to support ‘foundational literacy’ and ‘continuity of learning’.

This campaign aligns well with recent Ministry of Education and various State government initiatives as well. The campaign would be live on five social media platforms during the campaign – Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. WhatsApp would be used extensively as the medium to disseminate the content further to the target audience.

Sourav Banerjee, Country Director at Room to Read says, “We strongly believe that any child can read anywhere, can learn anywhere. During the campaign, we intend to equip parents and caregivers with easy-to-use tools, to understand how spending as little as 15 minutes in a day, can do wonders for their child’s language learning and growth.”

Room to Read plans an India-level Webinar on this International Literacy Day, i.e., 8^th September’21. Reading this Campaign #MainJahanSeekhnaWahan, aligned with the encircling theme of creating an enabling environment congenial to our child’s learning. The theme of the webinar is “Learning in Multiple Ecosystems: Home, School and Community”. Invitations will be sent to renowned academic experts to discuss the theme in depth.

Room to Read, a non-profit organization is improving literacy and gender equality in education in the developing world.

About Room to Read India: Room to Read India was established in 2003 and presently have programs in 9 states- Chhattisgarh, Delhi NCR, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Our Literacy Program has been implemented in 15642 government schools, training 25,741 teachers trained in library management and reading activities. Over the same period our Girls’ Education & Gender Equality Program has benefitted over 71,626 girls. Till date we have benefitted 4.7 million children, distributed 10 crores age-appropriate story books, and set up more than 10,000 libraries in government schools.

Room to Read is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, our innovative model focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools during two time periods that are most critical in a child’s schooling: early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. We work in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls can complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions. By focusing on the quality of education provided within the communities and ensuring these outcomes are measured, we have created a model that can be replicated, localized and sustained by governments. With its, global headquarters in San Francisco, Room to Read has benefited 23 million children across over 30,000 communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia.

Website: https://www.roomtoread.org/countries/india/

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