Our Aspiring Leaders
I saw this beauty through these kids and their efforts to become more than they are now. Despite the challenges they may face, they never forget to smile.
This indispensable experience of mine was made possible by the constant efforts of Dr. Sunita Gandhi through OneTara. It became a grooming ground for me, enhancing my leadership qualities, management skills, and strong will to do something good for society. All the credit goes to the project and those who worked with me especially Team Alfa.
I will always be grateful for the opportunity and would love to work again in the future.Ayush Pratap Singh
From my initial encounter with One Tara School, what stood out was approachability and Professionalism of everyone I met.
Everyone behaves so sweetly with us that I feel a belongingness with the school. The methods of teaching of the organisation are so much helpful that it has not only boosted my confidence of teaching but also it has helped in the enhancement of my skills.
I am Wholeheartedly thankful to the One Tara School that they gave me such a beautiful opportunity to provide knowledge and education to the needful students so that they can have a better future.Artika Singh
As a volunteer with One Tara school, I have witnessed firsthand the incredible impact they have on education. This organization is dedicated to providing quality education to underprivileged children, ensuring they have the appropriate resources and support needed to succeed. They create a nurturing and inclusive environment where every child feels valued and encouraged to reach their full potential. Through their innovative teaching method, ALFA (Accelerated Learning For All), One Tara School is transforming lives and communities. Their teaching method builds up confidence in every child.Aditi verma
The experience of working with DEVI Santhan has been truly enriching. The team is outstanding, with colleagues who are both skilled and incredibly supportive, making the work environment inspiring and collaborative. Through my involvement with the OneTara project, which is dedicated to providing literacy among the underprivileged children, I have had the privilege of meeting remarkable people, visiting slums, and gaining a deeper understanding of diverse life experiences. This opportunity has significantly boosted my confidence, refined my skills, and taught me professionalism in a workplace setting . I am profoundly grateful for this internship; the lessons learned will benefit me both personally and professionally. I am confident that OneTara will continue to thrive and fulfill its mission of #TransformingLives.Rishika Gupta
Working with an esteemed organisation like DEVI Sansthan has been a matter of utmost privilege. Within the one year that I have spent with the organisation, I have had a plethora of experiences from vising slums every morning and gathering students to visiting IAS officers to invite them to our events and collaborate with them on our projects. Being a part of the organisation has not just developed my personality but changed me as a person as a whole! Working closely with the founder, Dr Sunita Gandhi, I have had the opportunity to witness her dedication towards her goal of eradicating illiteracy and it is nothing less inspiring. With the right support and approach, DEVI Sansthan has the potential of change the literacy landscape of the world.Bhuwan Jaiswal
I am writing this testimonial as I had got this golden opportunity to do this wonderful job i.e., to educate our upcoming generation who are not privileged somehow to go and study. I believe that every individual has the right to study and grow in life.
At the outset, I was a little bit nervous when I received this great offer. A lot of thoughts were running into my mind like how will I manage all the students, will they listen to me, will I be able to complete my assigned task i.e., to educate them. So yes I was nervous. Moreover, I knew that a teacher plans a very crucial role in a student's life so I had to do this right & also this was my first experience. One Tara has given me that platform through which I was able to overcome that nervousness inside of me.Anchal Verma
Our Volunteers
We are privileged to have had hundreds and thousands of school and college students volunteer as part of the Each One Teach One campaign. Here are some of their testimonies.
Our Learners
Literacy changes lives. Be inspired by some stories to understand the difference our program has made in the lives of vulnerable children and adults.
Sufia, 40, doubted that she would ever be able to learn to read at her age. We encouraged her to get through the struggle of the first few lessons, which was compounded by the embarrassment of others watching on. As it turned out, Sufia was one of our fastest learners ever – she went from unable to recognize letters, to reading sentences fluently in just one month. At the next parent-teacher meeting the teacher offered her an inkpad to make a thumb impression, but Sufia reached instead for a pen, with a big smile on her face!
Sufia
The first students to become literate using DEVI Sansthan’s program were three cousins. Each one of them had their own struggles with school, which had kept them from literacy. Inama was a diligent student but found it difficult to rote memorize the letters. Heena was a quick learner but spent most of the day doing domestic chores, and thus had little time for study. Meanwhile Muskan suffered from a liver ailment which kept her from attending school. Despite these difficulties, each of the three girls learnt to read in just 1 to 2 months. Their efforts showed us from the beginning that the dream of literacy for all is really possible.
Inama, Heena & Mushkan
Rehana is a 7 year old girl from a very poor family. They’ve seen great misfortune in their lives, and rarely gets the attention she needs, so she often skips school and has terrible behaviour. However, when we started the literacy program with her, her attention was focused, even though she could only recognize two letters at first. Since then, her focus has been amazing – though it took her three lessons to understand how to join letters together, today she is reading fluently.
Rehana
Shania, 9, was not enrolled in school when we first met her. Her father often drank, so family finances were tight. Shaniya’s mother also doubted her ability to learn well in school. But Shaniya learnt to read swiftly using DEVI Sansthan’s literacy materials – just a daily 15 minute session several times a week over 3 months. Impressed with this improvement, Shania’s mother enrolled her in the local school. Five years on (at the time of writing) Shania is now a confident young woman in Grade 8.
Shania
ALfA Worldwide
Ministry of Education, Maldives
We've signed an MoU with the Ministry of Education, Maldives, to enhance learning levels of children studying in all 213 government schools of the country. Hear Dr Abdullah Rasheed, the Minister of State for Education, Maldives, give his views on the transformative ALfA program.
Literacy Chicago, USA
In collaboration with Literacy Chicago, the ALfA English toolkit has been converted into videos. The program is being piloted with low-literacy adult learners from marginalized communities in Chicago, with impressive results. Experience the excitement of the first learner.
Kupanda Sisters, Guyana
A school in Guyana is taking up the 45 Days to FLN Challenge, benefitting around 200 children. The school is using the ALfA e-Learning materials to give its students a high-quality, low-carbon education.
Arca Beta, Peru
DEVI has conducted an online training for teachers for Arca Beta NGO, who are now implementing ALfA in their school in Iquitos, Peru. We hope that the impressive learning results will inspire more organisations to join the campaign.
PathYouth NGO, Kenya
We collaborated with Path Youth NGO to run a literacy and numeracy bootcamp for children in Mombassa using ALfA materials. Outcomes include improved skills for 102 children, increased learning motivation, enhanced teacher quality, and strengthened community support with volunteer teachers.
Malaysia
Teachers, principals & government officials gathered together from eight different countries to join an interactive workshop on the ALfA pedagogy, sowing the seeds for ALfA to bloom in South-East Asia. In Malaysia, we began an ALfA pilot in collaboration with Radiant Gems Preschool.
Philippines
Having partnered with Dawnbreakers Foundation to replicate the material in Filipino, they are now using it to teach in a remote area of Mindoro.
Trinidad & Tobago
We are partnering with El Dorado South Hindu School to trial ALfA.
Asia
- Philippines
- Maldives
- India
- Nepal
- Malaysia
North America
- USA
Latin America
- Peru
- Guyana
- Trinidad & Tobago
Africa
- Kenya
- Ghana
- Zimbabwe
Can you read this sentence? If so, you are literate.
Sometimes we take literacy for granted, but can you imagine what it would be like to not be able to read and write? Literacy is vital for people's social, emotional, and economic wellbeing. Yet there are still hundreds of millions around the world ‐ especially in Low and Middle Income Countries, including India ‐ who lack the key skills of reading, writing and doing basic arithmetic.
That's why we developed the Accelerating Learning for All (ALfA) program, which enables learners to become literate and numerate in just 3-5 months, compared to the traditional 3-5 years. Using a known-to-unknown approach which bypasses the need to learn the alphabet, ALfA unlocks the power of paired learning to teach the key skills of reading, writing and arithmetic.
Explore this page to understand the scale of the literacy crisis and learn how the revolutionary ALfA program works.
Benefits of Literacy
Literacy is vital to socio-economic well-being, at multiple levels:
- Expanding job opportunities. There is a strong positive correlation between literacy and income level, with literate people earning an estimated 40-70% more than their illiterate counterparts.
- Breaking inter-generational poverty. Parents who can read and write are more likely and able to send their kids to school.
- Boosting self-confidence. Literacy helps people feel more confident in themselves, more able to take initiative to improve their lives.
- Improving health. In developing countries, a child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past age 5, relative to a child born to an illiterate mother.
- Enhancing political rights. Literate people are generally more able to access information about current events, make up their own mind, and engage in the political process.
Read some of the stories of our learners to see what a difference literacy has made in their lives.
ALfA Pedagogy
The ALfA program is more than just a set of books, it is a way of teaching. This groundbreaking pedagogy enables learners to become foundationally literate and numerate in just 45 days. It is based on three key principles:
Paired Learning
When students sit in pairs, even the shiest one becomes an active learner. Paired learning is more enjoyable, leads to better learning outcomes.
Known to Unknown
ALfA flips the traditional ‘A for Apple’ on its head, moving from known (picture) to unknown (letter). Children read words from the first lesson, without wasting months on the alphabet.
Asking Questions
Students make their own questions and ask each other, which engages them more deeply in the learning process and is crucial to developing 21st century skills.
A Global Literacy Crisis
There are over 750 million illiterate adults around the world today, two thirds of which are women. As discussed in Disruptive Literacy: A Roadmap for Urgent Global Action, the number of illiterate adults has been stubbornly hard to decrease over the last 50 years.
The Covid crisis has severely disrupted education systems around the world, with the World Bank estimating that 70% of 10-year-olds in Low and Middle Income Countries are now in learning poverty – that is, unable to read a simple text with understanding. We must urgently ensure these children learn the key skills which will serve them well for the rest of their lives – or else risk losing another generation to illiteracy.
Learn about the ALfA literacy program in countries as diverse as Maldives, Peru, Guyana and the US.
ALfA & 21st century skills and traits
ALfA seamlessly integrates the 5C Skills leading to 4C Traits of a twenty-first century learner. These 9Cs cannot be taught from a textbook, but rather acquired while working with each other in the classroom.
5C Skills
- Competencies foundational literacy and numeracy are learnt swiftly through ALfA.
- Children develop their creativity and critical thinking through making questions for each other.
- Children develop their communication and collaboration skills by working in pairs.
4C Traits
- By working with many different children over the course of a few weeks, students develop their citizenship and character.
- Climate consciousness is developed through role plays and short stories.
- Connectedness with each other is key to broader outcomes such as social, emotional and mental wellbeing.
Intrigued, want to learn more?
Watch this 10-minute explanation of ALfA and DEVI Sansthan's work.
Explore the ALfA materials in 30 languages.
Start teaching today with the Literacy Now app.
Watch a video taking you inside an ALfA classroom
Financial Support
Your rupee goes a long way towards supporting the education of disadvantaged children.
Volunteer
Want to give someone the gift of a lifetime? Help a disadvantaged person learn to read using the free Literacy Now App.
Partner
Reach out to explore collaborations for literacy. Working together, we can make a big difference.
ALfA & Climate Change
Climate change and illiteracy. These twin evils threaten the future of hundreds of millions of children around the world. We have long ignored these crises. Now there is no time left – we must tackle them in mission mode.
ALfA is a low-carbon education: children and adults learn to read using just a few thin booklets – that too shared between a pair, and re-used many times. Hands-on learning materials are also locally available and biodegradable – like ice-cream sticks, pebbles and leaves. Better yet, ALfA inculcates love and curiosity for the natural world through short stories and role-plays, which build knowledge and also inspire action.
Want to learn more?
Read our report on climate literacy around the world.
Check out our collection of climate-themed short stories for new readers.
Discover our partners by clicking on their icons directly on the map!
Ministry of Education, Maldives200 government schools
Arca Beta, PeruPilot in a school in Amazon
Kupanda Sisters, GuyanaSingle school pilot
Literacy Chicago, USAAdult Literacy program
Ministry of Education, IndiaThousands of government schools
World Climate School, NorwayKnowledge & Training
Dawnbreakers Foundation, PhilippinesInformal education program
Teachers Without BordersToolkit Replication partnership
Dubai CaresMedia promotion partnership
Radiant Gems Preschool, MalaysiaSingle school implementation
Adventure of HumanityVallauris, France
Forum for African Women EducationistsKnowledge & training partnership
All Africa Students UnionKnowledge & training partnership
