15,000 children are reached every year through this initiative

This is a school intervention program specially designed for underprivileged children studying in grades 1 to 4 of the local Municipal schools. It is specifically aimed at developing reading skills in children and nurturing a reading habit among them, which in turn helps in developing their linguistic skills and vocabulary.

It was necessary to reduce the school drop-out rate of students coming to mainstream school from non-formal school. Strengthening their reading skills was found to be critical in this respect. The Reading Class project was developed as a solution, and was started in Pune and the Pimpri Chinchwad area in 2003 and 2007 respectively, in several Marathi and Urdu medium Municipal Corporation schools.

This initiative functions in close coordination with the School Board in PMC and PCMC. Regular timeslots are allotted in corporation schools for reading classes. Book fairies appointed by Swadhar take books to different classes and distribute them among children according to their reading levels. Each child is made to read individually in the class. Group activities like word games, songs and story-telling are also a part of these sessions. A reading ability test is conducted twice every academic year to gauge development in the children.

From the time this program was started, its impact can be seen in a) increased interest in reading shown by the children; b) improved attendance at school; and c) strengthened vocabulary, imagination, language and confidence.