Pratham UK raises a fantastic £27,409 through BBC Radio 4 Appeal for CAMal Ka Camps
We’re thrilled to share that thanks to the overwhelming support from Radio 4 Appeal listeners as well as Pratham UK donors, our BBC Radio 4 Appeal raised a fantastic £27,409.35!
Because of your generosity, 274,090 children can now attend one of Pratham’s 2024 summer holiday catch-up camps, which started earlier this month.
The appeal, presented by acclaimed broadcaster, journalist and children’s education advocate, Sangita Myska in November 2023, shared the inspirational story of nine-year-old Rupali from Odisha, who is the youngest of seven sisters living in a poor rural fishing village.
Until attending Pratham’s holiday catch-up camp, Rupali had only learned to read simple words and recognise the numbers one to nine. This is common in rural India where around half of children reach class five unable to read a text intended for a child in class two.
When Rupali’s school couldn’t meet her individual needs she struggled to keep up and became scared of going to school and stayed at home with her mother, losing her motivation for learning.
This is where Pratham came in. Recruiting Monalisa, a local college student, to voluntarily run a holiday learning camp in Rupali’s village called CAMal Ka Camp. The name being an acronym for “Combined Activities for Maximised Learning” and meaning ‘amazing’ in Hindi.
Pratham’s pioneering teaching methodology groups children of all ages with a similar learning level, grouping those that can read a paragraph, a sentence, a word, a letter or nothing at all together, with similar groups for maths.
The group activities are fun and interactive and include children chanting and chalking words and numbers on the floor and walls, working at their own speed and celebrating their small successes. The methodology has been commended by Nobel Prize-winning economists who rate it in the top tier of educational intervention programmes.
Camps are organised every year across India and cost less than 10p per child.
In just four weeks, Rupali could read age-appropriate stories and do subtractions. She returned to school and now dreams of becoming a police officer.
Your incredible generosity plays a crucial role in helping children in India address learning gaps and gives them the skills and confidence to thrive at school and build a brighter future. On behalf of everyone at Pratham UK, thank you! — Sakate Khaitan, Chair, Pratham UK
If you’d still like to join us in helping more children like Rupali take transformative learning journeys with Pratham. Make your donation today and change a child’s life.