Education is more than just absorbing facts; it is about expanding cognitive abilities. Reading boosts brain function, cognitive development and academic success, fostering self-learning and imagination. Yet, children from marginalized communities lack access to diverse, culturally relevant books hindering holistic development. The project seeks to bridge this gap and ignite a love for reading.
The Let’s Read campaign fosters curiosity and love for reading amongst children aged 9-14 years. Through book selection, reading and storytelling sessions, children are immersed in the world of books. Each child receives five coupons mapped to their language proficiency levels, empowering them to choose books tailored to their reading levels. Reading journals help them document their reading journeys.
The mini libraries, comprising 130 curated books, ensure easy access and storage in schools. Professional storytellers bring alive the books during storytelling sessions. While teacher training workshops further enhances their ability to create meaningful experiences, ensuring project sustainability.
Detailed assessment exercise is conducted across the schools to ascertain the usage of the books and the overall outcomes achieved. Regular interactions with teachers and students provide qualitative feedback and offers insights into programme impact and scope for improvement.
Our aim is to empower children from marginalized communities and improve their life prospects by fostering a love for reading and lifelong learning. To accomplish this, we have dedicated our efforts to build partnerships with local government and low income schools to mitigate the inequalities in access and quality of education.
Since 2017 Let’s READ has improved access to reading for over 60000 children from underserved communities. As part of the programme, till date 86800+ books sets have been gifted, 900+ mini libraries been setup, 758 storytelling sessions organized impacting 294 schools in India.
By providing mini libraries in schools curated to the reading levels of the children, we aim to improve access to culturally relevant books and increase reading engagement.
The Let’s Read project brings the joy of reading to children from marginalized communities. Write to us at contact@unitedwaymumbai.org to explore potential opportunities to partner with you.
