Called the Talking Book Device, new simplistic gizmo promises to improve literacy rates in rural areas, spread agricultural awareness, and even preserve cultural heritage. More

The Information Integrity Coalition (IIC) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes awareness and understanding of Information Integrity and honours organizations that have made exceptional progress to provide accurate, consistent and reliable information to their customers, suppliers and partners. At the thirteenth annual Excellence in Information Integrity (EII) Awards Program held at Chicago, USA on October 20, 2008, Akshara Foundation was jointly awarded the gold in the not-for-profit category for its work in building a comprehensive database of information on all government primary schools in Bangalore as part of the Karnataka Learning Partnership initiative . The database captured data on a child-by-child basis and that data was used to bring in remedial interventions early in the academic progression of the child and accelerate the learning outcomes of children . More

Mr Ashok R Kamath is the Chairperson of Akshara Foundation and Trustee of Pratham Books and PROOF

Anjanamma sits on the floor in her one-room tenement in Ashwatha Nagar, in Bangalore. Anjanamma has three children, a girl and two boys. Santosh, her seven-year old youngest son, is in the 3rd standard at the Government Kannada Higher Primary School in Ashwatha Nagar. Anjanamma is a strong votary of education. "It is necessary," she says. "Let children attain something. Let them study." Her daughter, Nagaveni, is in the 8th standard. A forward-thinking mother, Anjanamma wants her daughter to complete her education. "We never studied. Let our children study and do well," she says...."something other than the construction work his father is engaged in education will give them a life better than ours". More

Forty city children were happy after accessing a free dental check-up conducted
on Monday.

To mark Oral Health Month (OHM) 2008, Indian Dental Association, in collaboration with Colgate-Palmolive ( India) Ltd, organised a free dental check-up for Balwadi children from Akshara Foundation, a public charitable trust, in an OHM mobile dental van. More

BANGALORE: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) appears to be learning the lessons the hard way and that too spending huge amounts to teach Kannada!

As a part of its new experiment, the SSA has done away with traditional material like books, slates and pencils and will be giving a set of 60cards in a jute bag to each child. It has already readied 4 lakh sets by spending around Rs4crore. More

A Scheme to boost reading ability
Bangalore Mirror
Bangalore, August 13, 2008

Over 3.5 lakh primary school students to come under Oduve Nanu programme where colourful cards are used to teach slow-learners  

To improve the reading ability of students in primary schools, Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana, in association with Akshara Prathistana, has introduced the “Oduve Nanu” programme, which makes use of the colourful cards to teach slow learning students. More

Akshara Foundation, in association with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Government of Karnataka, launched the Karnataka Learning Partnership earlier this year with the objective of making children in government primary schools in Bangalore read in 45 days.

This effort, which has so far helped 45,000 children become “readers”, is looking for donations from individual donors. To aid the programme, individuals can either pledge a book to the Akshara Foundation or donate as little as Rs 25.

Log on to www.aksharafoundation.org or call 25429726/27/28 for details.

Over the past few months, if you had peeped in to any of the 1400 or so government schools in Bangalore, at around two in the afternoon, you would have glimpsed a heartwarming sight. A group of children huddled together in a circle, holding colorful cards in their hands, reading or listening to another child read out stories. You would have noticed the teacher because she would be conspicuously not ‘teaching’ in the normal sense - she would perhaps be sitting with the children, telling a story herself, helping an eager young student to master the complexity of the conjoined alphabet [vattaksharas] in a story, or better yet, just allowing children to help other children, rather noisily at that, in their quest for learning to read. More

Students in Government schools may not suffer from shortage of teachers by June next year. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti on Thursday said that Government planned to recruit 12,000 teachers in 10 months.

Speaking at the award presentation ceremony of the Karnataka Learning Partnership, a joint initiative of Akshara Foundation and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Horatti said that 4,868 teachers will be recruited within one week. Finance Department has approved recruitment of another 6,900 teachers. However, there will still be a shortage of 2000 teachers. More

All vacancies in school will be filled up by June 1, 2007 and appointment orders will be issued within a week to 4,868 teachers who have already been appointed, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti.

The finance department has approved the recruitment of 6900 teachers within the next four months, he added. More

More than 95 per cent of 69,800 children in government schools in Bangalore can read better today; 45,000 children who could not read before can now read without any hitch.

The 45-day accelerated reading programme, conducted jointly by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Akshara Foundation across primary classes in over 1,400 government schools in Bangalore, has done wonders for children. More

The Karnataka Learning Partnership, a public-private initiative by Akshara Foundation, the Education Department, Government of Karnataka and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, on Thursday presented the findings of its reading programme conducted across 1309 government primary schools in Bangalore.

The initiative, aimed at improving learning outcomes among primary school children in Karnataka, completed its first phase, implementing a city-wide reading programme. More

Another 15 days and the reading skills of some 75,000 students in 1,400 government schools in Bangalore should have considerably improved. That is the outcome expected from the 45-day programme initially under the aegis of Karnataka learning Partnership.

As reported earlier, most teachers and students have expressed satisfaction about the programme. However, many questions remain. For instance, is one shot of the module all that is required to boost reading skills as low as the zero level? More

What does a thirsty crow do when faced with a half-full of water? A smart crow instead of doing the many to-and-fro trips for pebbles, will look for a single straw, and slip away.

And what does the fox do, faced with grapes out of reach? He gets a ladder. No senseless high-jumps for him! We are dealing with modern day children, just won’t do to talk of long routes when there are short-cuts in plenty. More

The Education Department, which lunged into the Karnataka Learning Programme as part of the Karnataka Schools for Quality Education campaign, seems quite serious about improving the quality of education in the State.

Come August 18, a meeting of parents of students studying in government schools, with teachers, nodal officers and various department heads in each school will be conducted all across the State. More

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has announced the launch of the Karnataka Learning partnership (KLP) along with Akshara Foundation of Bangalore.

The KLP is a primary education initiative which involves public – private partnership. The first phase of the programme aims at taking up an “accelerated reading programme” for over 75,000 children in Government schools in nine educational blocks in Bangalore Urban District. More

By October 73,827 children studying in government schools across Bangalore from classes II to VII will have better reading skills.

That is the aim of the Karnataka learning partnership (KLP), a public –private partnership between Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Akshara foundation, which was launched on Wednesday by minister for primary and secondary education Basavaraj Horatti. More

The Karnataka Learning Partnership (KLP), a joint initiative between the government Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Akshara Foundation was formally launched on Wednesday by Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Basavaraj Horatti.

KLP seeks to improve the learning capabilities of 75,000 children studying in 1,411 government schools of the city through an accelerated reading programme conducted over three months.

The KLP initiative was started after over two lakh children in government schools were tested for their reading ability and it was found that 40 percent had poor reading skills. A dedicated website has been created the Akshara Foundation to keep a close track of the implementation and performance of the programme. The Chairperson of Akshara Foundation, Rohini Nilekani and Commissioner of Public Instruction Madan Gopal were also percent on the occasion.

With improving the quality of education in the state being the prime objective, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has lunged into bettering this aspect by introducing a reading programme in 1411 Government schools in Bangalore.

The programme, inaugurated under the banner Karnataka Learning Partnership (KLP), on Wednesday, is being supported by the Akshara foundation. More

A story a day to keep ignorance at bay
Deccan Herald
Bangalore, June 22, 2006

Nearly 50 percent of the children studying in the government schools in Karnataka have not reached the required levels of learning. That has been what the Karnataka state quality assessment organization, department of education, found out in its first state wide study of the education scenario, realized last week.

Another survey conducted by Akshara Foundation and facilitated by Pratham, the Annual survey on Education report, corroborated this. It found that in the state only one out of four students studying in classes 5 can do simple division, and only one out of two in class 2-3 can read a simple story. More

Akshara Foundation’s new project in 1,400 government schools
Deccan Herald
Bangalore, June 20, 2006

In an effort towards making primary education meaningful, Akshara Foundation has taken up a project in 1,400 government schools in Karnataka. The project is being taken up to ensure that all students from standards two to seven read and learn.

“The project will begin in July this year, and by November, we hope to see a remarkable difference in a children,” Said Mr. Ashok Kamath of the Akshara Foundation, at the Rotary service Award function 2006 in Bangalore on Monday. More

A woman’s battle against illiteracy by Sujata Bagal
Deccan Herald
Bangalore, April 4, 2006

Noor Ayesha chose to step out of traditional confines and wage a war against illiteracy. She started a pre-primary school in her house for the children of her community and believes that education is the only way to independence.

As I turn off of the Jama Masjid Road on to one of the side streets in Illyasnagar in South Bangalore, I come to a big, colourful shamiana that takes up the entire width of the street. At the head of the shamiana is a dais draped with a thin carpet. On the dais are chairs, a rectangular table with two flower vases and a microphone on a long stand. More

Importance of libraries stressed
Vijay Times
Gulbarga, October 26, 2005

Libraries are knowledge centers and people should develop reading habit to gain knowledge, opined professor of Gulbarga University Jayashri Dande.

Speaking at the valedictory function of Akshara Prathishtana here on Tuesday, she said that education should not be aimed at the sole intention of getting employment but to educate oneself. She regretted that student community is losing interest in reading and called upon women to teach the importance of books to their children. More

Akshara Prathisthana to adopt 500 schools in North Karnataka region
Deccan Herald
Gulbarga, September 15, 2005

Akshara Prathistana President Rohini Nilekani said nearly 40% of the students studying in Government schools did not know how to read and write properly.

Akshara Prathistana has come forward to adopt 500 Government schools in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which would benefit around 90,000 children. More

NGO’s bid to improve academic standards in North Karnataka region
Vijay Times
Gulbarga, September 15, 2005

After successfully implementing its educational programmes in Bangalore and Hubli-Dharwad, the Akshara Foundation in association with NGOs and banks is implementing its educational programmes to improve the educational status of North-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka region in particular.

Addressing media persons here on Wednesday, Chairman of Akshara Foundation, Rohini Nilekani and its programmes Director,Vijay Kulkarni said that to begin with Akshara has plan to work in 20 blocks which are classified as educationally backward by Nanjudappa Committee and these blocks are situated in Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary, Bijapur, Bagalkot and Gadag districts. More

Five smiling years of Akshara
Deccan Herald
Bangalore, April 26, 2005

The Centre and State governments are working in tandem to completely stop school dropouts by 2008 in the State, Primary and Secondary Education Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy said on Monday.

Inaugurating the fifth anniversary of Akshara Foundation, a city-based non-government organization, and an exhibition titled ”Five Smiling Years of Akshara,” in Bangalore, he said the government, through its various education based programmes, was working hand-in-hand with the voluntary organizations to achieve complete literacy in the State. The government is planning to open 218 more schools this year. It is also planned to open 58 residential schools in places where literacy rate is poor among women, he said.

Government to set up more schools in less populated areas : Reddy
The Times of India
Bangalore, April 26, 2005

The Karnataka government will set up 218 schools for under-privileged children in lesser populated areas this year, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy on Monday.

Speaking at the fifth anniversary celebration of the Akshara Foundation, he lauded the efforts of the Foundation in partnering with the government to provide education. More

For students it’s a break of a different kind by Jayalakshmi K
Deccan Herald
Bangalore, July 9, 2006

The twenty - odd kids are sprawling out on the floor. In pairs, they are reading out from glazed sheets, their fingers tracing the letters. There is much noise and excitement.

The students of Class II, Government Urdu Model Girls School, Frazer Town, are into their second day in the Karnataka Learning Partnership programme. Under the programme, the state education department, along with Akshara Foundation, aims to boost levels of reading among the children, using an innovative story telling method and do it in 45 working days one hour everyday. More