Biggest participation in ‘Read-a-thon 2022’

The record for maximum participants read together at multiple locations, was set by Room to Read India Trust, New Delhi, wherein a total of 1,73,844 people including school students, teachers, school staff, parents and government officials from across ten states joined together and read books for 30 minutes, between 11 am to 11.30 am on September 1, 2022. The record became a part of the prestigious India Book of Records (IBR) and its associate publication – the Asia Book of Records (ABR).

The state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh supported the ‘Read-a-thon 2022’. The attempt to create a record was made in all the partner states, i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, involving the connected schools, their staff, faculty and students. A dedicated activity went on for 30 minutes, creating a new record at India and Asia level.

The organization, founded in 2000 in San Francisco, California on the belief that world change starts with educated children, focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools during two time periods that are most critical in a child’s schooling -- early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. The Room to Read India works in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and state governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children to ensure that girls can complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions.

Harnessing the power of technology, the organisation introduced an online learning platform called Literacy Cloud during the COVID19 pandemic. The ‘Read-a-thon 2022’ motivated the students and others to read more and gain knowledge through available resources. Room to Read, a global nonprofit, started operations in India in 2003, with the aim of transforming the lives of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Its literacy program has been implemented in 15,642 government schools, supporting 25,741 teachers trained in library management and reading activities. Over the same period its girls’ education and gender equality program has benefited over 62,457 girls in the country.

Saurav Banerjee, Country Director, Room to Read India, is happy with the record. In his words: “Innovative approaches were adopted to disseminate the online content. This included uploading the content on government portals, sharing with teachers and parents through WhatsApp groups, utilizing interactive voice recording (IVR) systems, airing over radio or community radio and telecasting over Television. Scholars of our Girls’ Education Program were reached out directly through telephone for mentoring sessions.”

Room to Read was co-founded and launched by John Wood, Erin Keown Ganju and Dinesh Shrestha in 1999 after Wood visited several local schools in Nepal. He observed the teachers’ and students’ enthusiasm and lack of resources, which led him to quit his job and build a global team to create sustainable programs that help solve their education challenges. Wood and Shrestha worked with rural communities to build schools called School Room and established libraries called Reading Room. They later expanded beyond libraries, to begin the Girls’ Education program in 2000, which focuses on young girls and provides a long-term commitment to their education. The ‘Read-a-thon 2022’ organized by the Room to Read India Trust was aimed at creating awareness towards reading books, and of course to set the record.