Acquired English skills helped the young girl land a job that transformed her life and opened new horizons.

AASHA began with a handful of volunteers teaching slum children at a local park. A desire to do more pushed us to 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. During this period we acquired direct experience of the challenging learning environment and the problems faced by our target student group. Our volunteer base also grew in numbers as well as geographic footprint.

We started a Mobile Mentor program early on, classroom programs and teacher training were our focus until the advent of the pandemic. We then began to refine and focus on the Distance Reading Program that was deliverable remotely. The requirements of the Distance Reading Program on both the student and volunteer teacher were so minimal that it encouraged many students and volunteers to sign up and the numbers continue to grow limited only by the organization’s capacity to manage the numbers.

At AASHA, we would like to see equal opportunities available to every child and adult in India. Language is key to opening the door to these opportunities. We dream of all children enabled to read and acquire the transferable skills needed to become global citizens.