New Delhi: For the past 16 years, Pratham Books led the School Outreach Programme in partnership with the Jaipur Literature Festival, taking the spirit of the Festival beyond its main stages and into spaces where access to books and reading resources was often limited. Rooted in a shared commitment to making literature accessible, joyful, and meaningful, the programme brought storytelling, author interactions, and creative engagement directly to underserved children across schools, NGOs, shelter homes, juvenile justice homes, after-school centres, and community spaces.
This year, the Outreach Programme conducted 25 sessions across Delhi between 17–24 December 2025, reaching over 1,200 children in shelter homes, NGOs, government schools, and community centres. Participating institutions included Aasra Children Home, Udaan–DMRC Children Home for Girls, Child Survival India, Praangan centres, Nai Disha Educational and Cultural Society, MCD School branches, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, and the Juvenile Justice Home, among several others.
Each session brought stories alive through interactive storytelling, puppetry, music, movement, art, song, dance, and creative activities—placing children’s voices and participation at the heart of the experience. The programme’s impact continued as the Outreach Programme moved to Jaipur in the following weeks, running in parallel with the Jaipur Literature Festival.
In its 16th year, the Outreach Programme reached approximately 6,000 children across 75 centres in Delhi and Jaipur. Over the years, the Jaipur Literature Festival–Pratham Books collaboration engaged more than 50,000 children through 1,000+ outreach sessions across 500+ institutions, building sustained relationships with reading and storytelling across diverse communities.
At the core of the programme’s impact were its storytellers, facilitators, authors, illustrators, and performers, whose work extended far beyond traditional read-aloud formats. Through music, dialogue, performance, and creative exploration, they ensured that reading became an active, joyful, and meaningful experience rooted in children’s own realities.
Himanshu Giri, CEO of Pratham Books, said:
For sixteen years, our partnership with the Jaipur Literature Festival has been driven by a simple belief—that every child deserves access to stories, regardless of where they come from. Through this Outreach Programme, we worked across government and private schools, shelters, and community spaces to spread the joy of reading and nurture curiosity, imagination, and confidence. Together, we remained committed to ensuring that books and stories reached every child who needed them most.
Reflecting on the on-ground experience, Gargi Mall (Outreach Execution & Coordination) shared:
The sessions demonstrated how stories could be linked to children’s own experiences, making them more relatable and meaningful. Children responded with curiosity and imagination, showing how storytelling could spark deeper engagement with books beyond just listening.
Through its long-standing collaboration with the Jaipur Literature Festival and alongside a committed community of storytellers and facilitators—Pratham Books continued to build inclusive pathways to reading, ensuring that the magic of stories reached children where it was needed most, and nurturing a new generation of readers, thinkers, and storytellers.
