Pratham Books Annual Report
Transcript of Pratham Books Annual Report
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AnnuAl RepoRt2006 - 2007
Reaching out to children in every corner of India
Pratham
Books
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www.prathambooks.org
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Pratham Books
Reaching out to children in every corner of India
AnnuAl RepoRt2006 - 2007
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Boardof TrusTees
Ms. Rohini Niekani
Chairperson
Mr. Ashok KamathManaging Trustee
Ms. Rekha Menon
Trustee
Ms. Kanchan Bannerjee
Trustee
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A Book In Every Chids HandA substantia part of Prathams success as a network derives from its abiity to harness the energy of individuas and institutions
with whom it works to achieve its goas. The determination to do what wi work is striking; for eampe, the focus on
deivering pre-schoo education because it means a higher chance that the chid wi then continue on to schoo. As part of
its innovation, and in attempting to address some of the key deficiencies confronting educators in India, Pratham Books was
created a itte over three years ago to pubish high-quaity, affordabe books with good content in many Indian anguages.
A sma team has toied to make this happen and we can see that each year has turned out to be more eciting than the
previous ones. How did we do this year? We finished this year (2006-07) with a significant amount of success:
We printed neary 1.5 miion books during this financia year
We shipped over 1 miion books to our readers this financia year
We innovated with the hep of eperts in the Pratham network and brought out ow cost story cards which
contained simpe stories for eary readers. The Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan governments bought neary 2 miion of
these story cards this year
We reached the miestone of our 125th individua tite (not counting anguage editions)
Our Shishuvachan series has been enthusiasticay received especiay in the Hindi-speaking bet
Our books are now being read by chidren in a corners of the country from Nagaand to Rajasthan; from Kashmir
to the Andaman and Nicobar Isands
Today, we pubish our books in as many as ten Indian anguages chidren have been reading our books in Hindi, Marathi,
Gujarati, Tami, Teugu, Kannada, Bengai, Punjabi, Urdu, Oriya and of course in Engish the anguage that most parents
are now ooking to get their chidren educated in. None of our books are priced at more than Rs. 25 most are between
Rs.15-20 and this is what makes them affordabe across the country.
What does this mean in terms of readership? If one assumes that each one of the books we have shipped is read by ten
chidren on an average, then we have this past year faciitated over 10 miion chid-reads for our books aone. More, when
you start to incude the fact that there are a set of 24 reading cards in 37,500 cassrooms in Uttar Pradesh and neary 22,000
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cassrooms in Rajasthan. But there are sti miions of chidren whom we have not yet reached and this is where our
chaenges for the future ie.
Why is reading literacy so important? In modern societies, iteracy and specificay reading iteracy is a pre-requisite
for success in ife. Various studies have shown the correation between iteracy and achievement in society. Reading is
essentia for chidren to be proficient in any schoo subject and indeed it is this ack of reading iteracy that has beenthe reason for a schoo dropout rate of neary 53% in India. The European report on the Quaity of Education in 2002
states: The ability to read and understand instructions and text is a basic requirement of success in all school subjects. The
importance of literacy skills does not, however, come to an end when children leave school. Such skills are the key to all areas
of education and beyond, facilitating participation in the wider context of lifelong learning and contributing to individuals
social integration and personal development.
Prof. A. Jaauddin, our countrys eading epert on chidrens earning, has often said that to create a thinking nation we
need to first create a reading nation. If we beieve in this, as we do, then it becomes a sacred duty for us to ensure that
our chidren have the access to read good content in their mother tongues so that they are abe to think independenty,articuate and epress themseves independenty. Reading research is another goa of Pratham Books and during this
coming year we wi be investing more of our resources in enhancing our earning in this crucia area.
From India, sprang the first-ever chidrens book more than 2,000 years agoa coection of taes caed the Panchatantra.
The country, which has 18 officia anguages and more than 1,600 diaects, pubishes books for chidren which mosty
draw on these taes, egends and heroic past eras. How many tites of chidrens books are avaiabe in our country in a
anguages? The Federation of Indian Pubishers (FIP) in recent times had compied the atest statistics on Indian book
pubishing, in their report tited 50 Years of Book Pubishing in India since Independence. According to this source
about 11,000 pubishers in India bring out neary 60,000 tites in a year. To be more specific, in 1997, 57,386 books were
pubished in the country in 17 Indian anguages and Engish, had a share of about 22 per cent. This means that the number
of chidrens books pubished in the country woud be about 3,000 tites every year which is a sma number compared to
the needs of the chidren in India. What this means is the entire chidrens pubishing industry has to work at producing
more tites in arger numbers of copies to serve our chidren who are starved for good reading content.
Finay, what is a better return than to see a five-year od beaming smies because she now owns that one book she aways
wanted to have? How do we make this happen? Pratham Books has during the year eperimented with many possibe
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channes to reach chidren with varying degrees of success. For eampe, some of the bawadi teachers in the Pratham network
have been seing the books for a nomina saes commission this has enabed them to get a itte etra income and enhanced
their sense of empowerment. We hope to do more of this during the coming years.
Out of the many books we pubished during the year, we need to mention a book that was written and iustrated by chidren
in Aahabad Hamari Pratham Kahaniyan has been pubished in Hindi and has been oved by a who read the book. This book
came out of our effort in faciitating creativity workshops for chidren and we wi do more of this in the future.
In our endeavour to make reading a peasurabe activity for chidren, we tried new book formats. A set of biingua picture
books had the story running in Engish and in another anguage. The biingua books in Engish-Marathi, Engish-Hindi and
Engish-Kannada have heped chidren to earn two anguages at one go. Our pubishing ist incuded two pop-up books, Beaks
of Birds and Home sweet Home, a set of four story books based on the environment and another set of four foktaes from
around the word.
A these accompishments are because of the dedication of the entire Pratham Books team a sma team but highy
committed to the cause of A Book in Every Chids Hand. We are aso gratefu to the entire Pratham network, our customers
around the country and many others authors, iustrators, transators, reviewers, designers, printers - who joined hands with
us in the march to make India a Reading Country.
Jai Hind!!!
Rohini Niekani Ashok Kamath
Chairperson Managing Trustee
Apri 16, 2007
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The Word Of Pratham BooksPratham Books has etended its reach many times over in the past year. We are touching the
ives of chidren across the country that are underserved by the mainstream pubishing industry.
In addition to the nine anguages that we are aready printing in, we have added Bengai and
Gurumukhi to our repertoire and our books are reaching out to many more states in India.
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NORTHERN lIGHTS
Supporting Prathams Read India Campaign
In North India, as Prathams Read India campaign gained momentum, so did the need for creating content for miions of
chidren who were becoming new readers. In response to Prathams demand for simpe, ow cost reading materia, theRead India content group seected 24 tites from our Shishuvachan series to be distributed in 21 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
The books were converted into story cards and the ay out was changed to fit an A4 page size. We printed them at the cost
of Rs. 2 per story card and the first consignment comprised 900,000 story cards that were dispatched to hundreds of viages
across Uttar Pradesh.
Pratham Rajasthan foowed suit and ordered over 400,000 story cards. Pratham lucknow ordered 300,000 story cards for
distribution to the Pratham ibraries. Our story cards have aso reached Agra, Gauriganj and Varanasi.
In addition to this, we handed over print-ready fies to Pratham Bihar, Pratham Gujarat, Pratham Assam, Pratham West Benga
and Aid India, Chennai, for printing the story cards on their own. The sheer scae and speed of this operation is reason for us
to fee proud, to say nothing of the number of chidren reached, many of whom wi get such attractive reading materia for
the first time.
Stepping Into New Territories
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Himacha Pradesh bought 4,000 copies of 22 of our Shishuvachan books in
Hindi for distribution to a its government schoos in the 13 districts of the state.
In the Pratham ibraries in Punjab, 33 of our tites, pubished for the first time in
Gurumukhi, are avaiabe to the chidren.
Working For And With ChidrenWe conducted a writing and iustrating workshop for chidren who attend
Pratham ibraries at Aahabad ast year. Hamari Pratham Kahaniyan is a book
that came out of this workshop and has been appreciated by a those who
have seen it.
A second writing workshop was hed in the ast week of March and we wi
soon bring out another book written and iustrated by our chidren.
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SOUTHERN SOJOURNS
Books in Tami, Teugu and Kannada and Urdu were sent to schoos and ibraries
across a the states in southern India and they have reached as far as the Andaman
and Nicobar Isands. UNICEF ordered 13,000 copies of our books for the schoos
that were rebuit on the isands after the tsunami disaster in 2004.
Turte Story, a charmingy iustrated book about the Oive Ridey turtes of
Orissa kinded the interest of chidren in the viages of Tami Nadu, hundreds of
kiometers away. UNICEF ordered 3,500 copies of the book for chidren associated
with its programmes in Tami Nadu.
The four books in the History Series too were reprinted in Tami to be distributed
by UNICEF.
Education Deveopment Centre, an organization working in Karnataka bought two
of our Science Series tites in Kannada, to suppy to 2,000 schoos across the state.
Our Urdu tites found their way into remote hamets in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh
and Karnataka.
Books That Created Waves
In 2006, thousands of chidren in Bangaore earnt how to read under the Karnataka learning Partnerships reading
programme (a joint initiative between Akshara Foundation and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan). As a foow-up to the programme,
Radio Mirchi supported the effort by doing an on-air campaign to Pedge a Pratham Book. listeners were encouraged to gifta Pratham Book to chidren who had earned how to read. The media campaign benefited many chidren in Bangaore and aso
created awareness about Pratham Books. Truy, a case of books making waves... radio waves.
Onine Offers
For the first time, Pratham Books partnered with Fabma (www.indiapaza.com) to make our books avaiabe onine through
their onine store. A promotion was run during Diwai and specia gift sets of Pratham Books were created. Companies and
individuas spread the Diwai cheer by buying and gifting these books.
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Fair And Fun
Pratham Books participated in the Bangaore Book Fair and the NCERT Book Fair, hed in Bangaore for the first time. The
eperience provided an opportunity for us to showcase our books and generate interest in pubishers and readers aike. Many
pubishers were surprised to see that it was possibe to bring out ow-priced books of such good quaity.
Some private schoos ike Shishugriha and Sri Kumaran Chidrens Home invited Pratham Books to dispay and se its books
during their periodic parent-teacher meetings. Students, teachers and parents bought books in Engish and other anguages.
The schoos aso bought severa books for their ibraries. Ive aways been on the ook out for attractive books in regiona
anguages for my young readers, now I know where to get them! ecaimed a deighted ibrarian.
Corporate Fairs
Many corporates supported us by etting us set up stas in their offices and encouraged their empoyees to buy our books. It was
interesting to see young eecutives buy dozens of books to gift to chidren. Every year, on one particuar day, a empoyees of our
company gift whatever possibe to an orphanage. Net year Im definitey going to gift books from Pratham Books! said a young
eecutive. We were abe to reach out to Hewett Packard, Motoroa, Teas Instruments, JP Morgan, Mphasis and ING Vysya.
Whie empoyees in some of these companies bought the books for themseves, some of the companies bought books to give
away as gifts to underprivieged chidren.
Another interesting first was getting young women who run preschoos (balwadis) in sum
communities to se Pratham Books for a sma commission. We started this recenty and the
first bawadi teacher got a cheque for Rs. 297 from us for her efforts.
Making Mamthas Word More Coourfu!
Mamtha, a Cass 5 student of a government schoo in Banashankari competes her schoo
assignments in between heping her famiy make pottery products. Mamthas parents migrated
to Bangaore from Rajasthan, and they ive in tents aong a busy highway, making pots, panters,
idos and other artifacts using paster of paris and cay. Mamtha knew ony two paces - the
schoo and the pavement.
One day she visited a book fair across the street at the NCERT premises. I never knew
there coud be so many kinds of books, said the itte gir ooking at a the coourfu
story books at the Pratham Books sta with awe. A itte ater she hurried back in the rain,
cutching a Pratham Book gifted to her. She didnt say it aoud, but the ook she gave said it
a, Now I know so much more of the word.
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GOING EAST
We were deighted to have reached out to chidren in Indias North-East. Our books are now in Nagaand. A the 1425 viages
in the state wi soon have community ibraries. The ibraries are being started by Pratham with 100 books each, of which 78 are
Pratham Books tites in Engish.
In Assam, some of our books are being transated into Assamese for Prathams Read India campaign and its ibraries.
We now have 38 of our tites avaiabe in Bengai. We participated in the prestigious Kokata Book Fair for the first time. There
was great interest in the Engish and Bengai tites. Our popuar books Ganga and Made in India received positive feedback. We
hope to make a mark in this book-oving state over the coming years.
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WESTWARD HO
Chidren in Maharashtra seem to be avid readers. Do you have quiz books and poetry books? asked 10-year
od Ani. In another schoo, itte Ramya wanted to know if we had books that coud hep her do eperiments.
Feedback from chidren is aways wecome, for it is chidren who are the raison detre for Pratham Books. Schoo
fairs bring out one desire very ceary - when it comes to we-written and we-iustrated books, chidren definitey
want more!!
Pratham Books hed a dispay and sae of its books at Cathedra Schoo, Vishwajyot Schoo and DAV Schoo
in Mumbai. Parents, teachers and kids visiting the ehibition were impressed with our books and the array of
anguages that they were pubished in. In the coming years, we woud ike to reach out to aided and semi-aided
government schoos in a the states in India.
For first time UNICEF Mumbai bought 11,700 books from us for schoos in the viages of latur and Nadurbar.
Overa, this year has been an eciting one for Pratham Books. In addition to the wide range
books pubished during the year, there are severa new books on the anvi. These
incude story books, picture books for younger chidren, non-fiction books on
mathematics, science and nature.
We wi continue our efforts to put a book in the hands of every chid in
the remotest corners of the country, to make India a Reading Country.
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Sampurna Murti, Regional Manager, Northis a biochemist by training and taught Chemistryfor many years to high schoo students. She wended her way into Pratham Books because of her ove for
books and reading. She ikes watching sunsets on beaches and enjoys watching movies, traveing, isteningto music and meeting peope. She has ived in many parts of India and knows 6 anguages.
Manisha Chaudhry, Editorial Consultant,is an avid reader and oves the mountains. Her ideaof heaven is to sit under a tree on a windy, coo day and read whie eating an orange. She ikes animas
and is particuary smitten by dogs. She studied iterature and mass communication and has worked in the
deveopment sector for 21 years. She is an often harassed but rather happy mother of two chidren whoteach her patience everyday. Her other interests are peope, music, art and spirituaity.
Mala Kumar, Editorial Consultant,is permanenty muti tasking. She burnsthe unch whie admiring a sunbird. Writes best-seers in the mind whie tending seven
potted pants. Meets interesting peope whie wearing the garb of a journaist. Activey
participates in street sports ranging from lagori to cricket. Counts stars rather thanmoney. Has a arge famiy that bears with it a.
Ishwar Daitota, Editorial Consultant,was born and brought up in a remoteviage in India where the nearest schoo and ibrary was 4 kms away. He is a career
journaist and has edited eading Kannada daiies. He aso hosts reguar TV shows. He
has authored over 20 books and is a visiting professor at two universities. He is an avid
coector of pens and has over 13,000 of them. His hobbies incude reading and eating
timepass kaekai (groundnuts) whie waking aone.
THE PRATHAM BOOKS TEAM
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Utkarsha Manish, Editorial Consultant,has done her Ph. D. in Zooogy. A former coegeecturer, she has aso been a content writer. She has been writing artices on nature and its conservation
for nature-reated magazines and newspapers. She ikes to go for nature waks, oves animas and
pants. Her famiy incudes her husband, daughter, parents-in-aws, 3 cats, and many injured animas,
which end up at her house for recovery. Aong with some birds, turtes, there are occasiona geckos,
bats and snakes.
Mukesh Aggarwal, Design Consultant,is a commerce graduate who decided totrade accounting for design. He is a cricket fan and his famiy incudes his wife, parents, brother,
daughter and son. He oves to create new ideas. He has been designing cataogues, annua
reports, posters, magazines, printing materias and chidren books since he was 14 years od.
His favourite coour is green and he oves sweets.
David Timothy, Manager Operations, spent his chidhood surrounded by books from hisfathers ibrary and was often haued up for disguising storybooks as tetbooks. He has been invoved in
different aspects of the book word - ibrary, retai, marketing, production and distribution. He aso writes
for newspapers and magazines on popuar music. lives in Bangaore, a city he oves and bemoans its ost
past gory when in the company of feow Bangaoreans.
Purvi Shah, Brand Manager, has a voice thats a thunder and ightning. So much is she inove with frowning, that her now 40 day od son does the same. A workahoic and ceaniness freak
(she is a true Virgo, you see) she oves watching movies, reading and bragging about her amost
perfect husband. An MBA in marketing, she has dabbed in the fieds of saes, event marketing,
advertising and now manages brand Pratham Books.
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Particularsasat March
31,www2007
asat March 31,
2006
liabilities
Corpus Fund 7,354,302.27 8,897,971.74
Current liabiities 6,230,449.39 387,895.40
Advances Received From Buyers 350,541.79 1,955.00
total 13,935,293.45 9,287,822.14
assets
Fied Assets 333,458.71 172,711.88
Deposits 1,500.00 21,500.00
Rajiv Gandhi Foundation -
Receivabe A/c304,708.08 284,708.08
Debtors 5,263,633.50 780,464.96
TDS Recoverabe 13,206.39 2,122.23
Prepaid Epenses - 15,000.00
Stock Of Books 4,683,478.00 2,560,431.44
Cash In Hand 14,990.00 10,997.30
Cash In Bank 2,142,392.77 4,882,590.25
Deferred Deveopment Epenses 1,177,926.00 557,296.00
total 13,935,293.45 9,287,822.14
PRATHAM BOOKS - BAlANCE SHEET AS
ON MARCH 31, 2007 (Figures In Rupees)
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ParticularsYearended March
31, 2007
Yearended March
31, 2006
incoMe
Sae Of Books 15,462,599.56 6,365,627.45
Donations Recieved 102,600.00 8,590,000.00
Increase/ (Decrease) In Vaue Of
Stock Of Books2,123,046.56 1,862,495.05
Other Incomes 344,193.93 65,195.73
Ecess Of Ependiture Over Income 1,543,669.47 -
total 19,576,109.52 16,883,318.23
exPenditure
Book Deveopment Epenses 17,263,085.82 9,875,554.85
Adminstrative Epenses 1,985,487.53 730,662.84
Promotiona Epenses 71,290.00 44,982.50
Depreciation 256,246.17 68,395.88
Ecess Of Income Over Ependiture - 6,16,3722.17
total 19,576,109.52 16,883,318.23
PRATHAM BOOKS - INCOME & ExPENDITURE FOR
THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2007 (Figures in Rupees)
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www.prathambooks.org
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www.prathambooks.org
Pratham Books
No. 633/634,4th C Main, 6th B Cross,
OMBR Layout, Banaswadi,Bangalore - 560 043
Karnataka, India
Ph: +91 80 25429726 / 27 Fax: +91 80 25429726
E-mail: [email protected]
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