AASHA’s humble beginning was at a local park in Mumbai, teaching slum children with a handful of volunteers. During this period we acquired direct experience of the challenging learning environment and the problems faced by our target student group. A desire to do more pushed us to formalize what we were doing and partner with schools for teacher training and student enrichment programs. Learnings from these activities and further research enabled us to develop a simple system of lesson plans and assessments for teaching English to children from ages 8 to 15.

We started a Mobile Mentor program early on, although classroom programs and teacher training were our primary focus. Our experience in creating and curating content as well as conducting our various programs gave us the capability to quickly shift our teaching online during the pandemic. Our Distance Reading Program was born. DRP, is a phone-based English reading program for children that is delivered remotely. The demands of the program on both the student and teacher are minimal and that encouraged many students and volunteers to sign up for the program. Both our volunteer and student bases grew in numbers as well as geographic footprint.

Language is the key to opening the doors to many opportunities. At AASHA, we want to see equal opportunities available to every child and adult in India. We dream of enabling every child to acquire the transferable skills needed to become global citizens.