Katha (organization)

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For other uses of Katha, see Katha

Katha (Hindi: कथा) is an Indian non-profit, voluntary organization, founded in 1988, devoted to publishing, workshops, cooperative centres, non-formal education centres and pro-poor activities, it is also a publishing house for Translations and Children's Literature.

Contents 1 Katha Awards 2 Area of Work 3 Objectives 4 Past achievements 5 KATHA TRANSALTION FOR EQUITY NETWORK . KTEN 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Katha Awards

In 1990, it constituted the Annual Katha Awards given in three categories: Katha Creative Fiction Awards, Katha Awards For Translation to promote regional translations; Katha Chudamani Awards, a Lifetime Achievement: instituted in 1999 to honour a writer of enduring excellence ^[1].

[edit] Area of Work

Katha works with and in story and storytelling for education of children, poverty alleviation, culturelinking. Since 1988, it has built a strong reputation as one of India’s leading edge organizations in the literary to literature continuum working to reduce injustice and poverty through education, and to culturelink the country through translation. ^[2]

With many international recognitions to its credit including the NASDAQ STOCK MARKET EDUCATION AWARD, and more than a handful for their books for children and adults, Katha is known for its endeavour to spread the joy of reading, knowing, and living amongst adults and children, the common reader and the neo-literate. Story pedagogyR is a Katha innovation that links classroom practice to work with communities in Delhi and other parts of India and our publishing programme.

[edit] Objectives

Katha’s main objective is to enhance the pleasures of reading for children and adults, for experienced readers as well as for those who are just beginning to read. And, inter alia, to –

• Stimulate an interest in lifelong learning that will help the child grow into a confident, self-reliant, responsible and responsive adult.
• Help break down gender, cultural and social stereotypes.
• Encourage, foster excellence, and applaud quality literature and translations in and between the various Indian languages.

[edit] Past achievements

Over the last nearly 20 years they have succeeded to: Bring the joy of reading to 10,00,000 children: Since 1988, Katha’s children’s magazine, Tamasha!, with a print run of 30,000/quarter [and 5 issues reaching one lakh/quarter] had reached out to 30,000 schools catering to first generation school-goers. Today their books regularly reach out to children living in urban and rural poverty – bringing reading joy to thousands of children.

They work with 400 writers across 21 Indian languages, translators and top illustrators, to bring the best of Indian fiction in quality translation and publication to seasoned readers, neoliterates and children.

Bring enhanced literacy skills to children from nonliterate families who are first generation school-goers, thus helping them better their lives/futures. Katha started working in one slum cluster in 1990. Since then, they have touched the lives of thousands of children, and have helped 10,000 children to earn their school-leaving certificates.

Today they work with children who come from 54 slum communities across Delhi, with children using education as a strong pro-poor, poverty alleviation strategy. And with tribal communities in the remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh in North East India.

Katha runs early chilhood centres across 40 slums in Delhi, attracting more than 3,000 children from nonliterate families.

Katha’s teacher training programme has a special component for preschool teachers in these learning centres. And they come, twice a month, into the Katha Faculty Club for peer learning, counselling and support.

In the last 18 years of its working through innovative initiatives, Katha has reached out to nearly 3 and half lakh beneficiaries, including more than 42,800 children and 34,500 women. Some 6250 Children are attending different educational initiatives of Katha every year. Nearly 6500 children have been mainstreamed to government schools from Kathashala so far, and 6000 children have passed their School leaving/Secondary School examinations. so far 84,400 Children have been weaned away from labour

Kathahas trained more than 1200 teachers of public schools, government schools as well as private Schools And nearly 250 teachers have been trained under the Katha in-service teacher’s training programme. And 2700 Community women associated with Katha as Ma Mandal members.

IT Training: Nearly 11,390 children have qualified for Katha’s rigorous Computer certification.

THE KATHA I LOVE READING CAMPAIGN helps bring the joy of books back into schools by helping children in Delhi read for fun and well.

The Main Goal of the Project is to work closely with government schoolchildren to bring sustainable reading skills to all children studying in the schools to be covered; make them confident readers, equipped with the lifelong habit of reading and learning through reading; and specifically bring measurable improvement in the grade-specific reading and comprehension abilities of children.

[edit] KATHA TRANSALTION FOR EQUITY NETWORK . KTEN

In 2005-6 Katha made broader leverage of their work so as to bring translation into the core practice of building equality and equity for India. The Katha Translation for Equity Network, works out of bangalore, to increase access to knowledge for all students from regional language schools, across every linguistic state of India, across more than 30 languages. [According tosurveys, nearly 85% of students in the 5-17 age group go to regiobnal language schools across the country.]

KTEN’s major premise is to valorize knowledge over language. And to bring to students a more equitable learning sphere at the secondary and post-secondary level.

KTEN is ideated as a powerful engine that can help make the dream of millions of students in India come true – and will be a powerful engine in redistributing wealth in India and create value that is sustainable and accessible to all.

KTEN provides equal opportunities for all to participate and gain from the fruits of this community labour that believes that equity and equality should be for all. It goes beyond politics and college to help an empowered civil society contribute for the larger good for all.

KATHA CENTRE FOR FILM STUDIES, based at Mumbai, India. A good film library enhances its work of attracting young people to good cinema.

KATHA’S PRESIDENT: SINCE 1993, IS DR ABID HUSSAIN, INDIA’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

GEETA DHARMARAJAN STARTED KATHA IN 1988 AND HAS BEEN ITS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL TEAM LEADER SINCE THEN.

[edit] References

1. ^ Katha Awards NDTV (New Delhi Television Limited) Official website.
2. ^ Katha Official website.

[edit] External links

• Katha Official website
• Media mentions of Katha and Katha's works

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