|
Organisation
|
Vanasthali
Rural Development Centre, Pune |
|
Project
name
|
Swayam Abhyas Sarav: Publishing Marathi
language exercise books |
|
Grant
operationalised
|
January 2009 |
|
Duration
|
2 years |
|
Grant
amount sanctioned
|
Rs2.47
million |
Activities within
the grant and expected impact:
The project is supporting Vanasthali Rural
Development Centre (VRDC) in the development
and publication of a set of Marathi language
exercise books, designed for use by children
in the age group of 11-14 years. The books
are being written by an eminent Marathi
writer and artist, and published through
a tie-up with ‘Jyotsna Prakashan’,
which has an established track record of
publishing quality material for children.
This would ensure that books are widely
available in the market, while their use
in hobby classes run by VRDC in various
government schools situated in rural and
semi-urban boroughs of Maharashtra will
ensure rural outreach of the books.
These exercise books help to strengthen
children’s understanding, flair and
use of standard Marathi. A total of 4,000
copies of the books are being published
and marketed, reaching out to 12,000 middle
school children from VRDC hobby classes
and the rest are marketed by the publisher
to individual buyers and schools. From the
sale of the first edition of the books,
a designated fund would be created by Jyotsna
Prakashan, which would be used for publishing
a second edition of the books without subsidy,
to make the publication self-sustaining.
Around 300 teachers are trained to use
the books by a team of 25 trainers. Regular
use of the books is expected to result in
improved reading, writing and self-expression
skills among at least 60 per cent of the
students attending the hobby classes. Remainder
books would be sold in the market to over
3,000 individual / institutional buyers
and feedback from a section of users would
be collected. It is expected that 80 per
cent of the users would have positive feedback
on the book.
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