The Azim Premji Foundation hosted a three-day children’s Literature Festival – KathaVana 2019

The Azim Premji Foundation hosted a three-day children’s Literature Festival – KathaVana 2019 -- focused on engaging teachers and children with a variety a high-quality literary experiences at the following locations:

Tuesday,10th December 2019, GHPS Hosahalli (Vijayanagara), South-2 Block

Wednesday, 11th December 2019, Yediyur Government Primary School, South-3 Block

Friday, 13th December 2019, Hebbagodi Government School, Anekal Block

Literature plays a vital role – in society and in human lives. Recent decades have seen increasing interest in children’s literature in India, but it still does not find a meaningful place in schools, classrooms and libraries. This is true of most schools across region and class in India, but as with most other issues, it impacts the disadvantaged sections of society the most. Since 2012, KathaVana has engaged with the following questions:

Can young children be introduced in interesting and meaningful ways to literature?

Can teachers be introduced to -- and convinced about -- the power and relevance of literature in the lives of their students?

Keeping with the broad vision of Azim Premji Foundation, KathaVana focuses on government schools, which are a very neglected and under-served part of the educational landscape of India. KathaVana includes a simultaneous focus on both teacher and student learning.

Previous years’ experience indicates that in a mega-city like Bengaluru, a single mela is simply not enough. Having a mela in three different government school blocks (Hosahalli, Yediyur and Hebbagodi) ensures that students and teachers from different blocks are able to experience the festival and to get exposure to the idea of using children’s literature in educational contexts.

Across the three days, approximately 1280 students and 56 teachers from 27 schools in the three participating blocks participated for an entire day at the festival. In addition, another 140 teachers and educational functionaries visited the festival for briefer periods of time. The break-up by day is given below: