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I’m on my way home from a two day trip in Delhi where I met with an organization called Katha. Katha, in a few words, is the world’s best kept secret. The organization’s mission is to improve the situation of millions of children in India, many of whom have little to no access to schooling. And they are addressing this challenge through the art of storytelling or katha. While this seems like a rather simplistic solution, their impact is commendable and their methods applaud worthy.

Katha started in 1998 with a children’s magazine for first generation school goers. And soon become a pioneer in translation, in order to bridge different cultures. With time, there were more questions and the story further unfurled to enhance the joys of reading and providing a chance at lifelong learning. Finally, in 1992, a system of education evolved which focused on children in poverty. Katha believes that not only is it important for children to enroll in school but to retain them and provide an education which sparks their mind. Today, Katha is an organization that has crafted its own curriculum and constantly designs and develops projects that benefit the children and the communities they come from. The organization is currently in 50 government schools of Delhi where the community women conduct daily reading sessions. They exit a school typically 3-4 years after their entry once the government teachers are trained in Katha’s methods and the children have shown significant improvement in learning levels. They then reach out to 122 slum communities of Delhi through their open school programme. Come rain or shine, they take their story books and sit in parks, gardens or around trees, only hoping to inspire the children to go to school or go back to school. They also conduct training camps for older youth, so that the slums are encouraged to have their own sessions, all in all, aspiring to create the leaders of tomorrow. Most important of their interventions, is the Katha lab school. A pilot programme of sorts, where they reach teach their own curriculum to children of ages between 3 and 15, developed by the founder of Katha and well researched to include components of several different curriculums from across the world. Other activities, that create a well rounded individual, are all undertaken here. And the teachers are mainly women from the community itself.  All of the above are supported by their publishing house and the stories told from its very own books. I bought a handful for my little nephew and as I close my eyes, the illustrations still paint my vision with mesmerizing colours.

This year alone, Katha has touched the lives of nearly 100,000 children who might have gone without receiving a sustainable education. The government of India and the Delhi government have taken notice. The corporates have taken notice. The donors have taken notice. The foundations and volunteers have taken notice. The grants are soon going to start pouring in and the scaling up, if all goes well, will be well on its way shortly. Katha like every organization in the world is not without its problems. There are many and many more will unfold. However, after seeing many NGOs in the last few weeks, some tackling issues in the conventional style, Katha was a wonderful experience. We met many people there and they were all protagonists in their own right. For small salaries, they are carving India’s future. While English itself is a struggle for some of them, by using Hindi translated books, they are spreading the joy and themselves striving to learn further. And the chief, a Padmashree awardee, leaves you with little wonder about the great heights Katha has reached the moment you meet her. Post many meetings at Katha all ending in a warm tight hug from its story writer, I could not help but compare my strawberry smoothy at the airport with my own feelings for Katha. Of childhood comforts and fairy tales and of rejoicing in the sweet realization that many poor children in India are not only being provided an education but of truly experiencing the joys of learning and crafting their destinies. I hope that in the coming years, Katha (http://www.katha.org/site/) becomes a familiar name to us all.