Maharasthra is the birth place of Pratham. We initiated activities in Mumbai, the capital of the state, in 1999 by providing pre-school education to the children living in the slums. Presence in the slum communities revealed that apart from there being inaccessibility to pre-schools, children in school were lagging behind due to low learning levels which was leading to higher drop out rates. This led to the adoption of the area approach (will be hyperlinked to section on area approach) whereby, we started working to ensure that every child in defined geographical territories in Mumbai city was in school and learning well.


Over the years, the scope and coverage of Pratham in the state has expanded. In January 2007, Pratham launched its Read India campaign nationwide and Maharashtra was the first state where Pratham took it up statewide in order to improve basic reading and arithmetic. In the same year, Pratham also expanded the reach of the direct programs in Mumbai  beyond “Pratham communities”. Hence, in Mumbai, the program was expanded to cover all government schools in 3 mediums of instruction i.e. Marathi, Hindi and Urdu. While Pratham balwadis and Shishuvachan classes continued to run, the model of direct classes of L2R and Libraries morphed into the “Read Mumbai” program.

The key programs being undertaken in Maharashtra are:

1) Direct Programs: are being undertaken in Mumbai, Pune, Alibaug were we continue to run balwadis and libraries. Libraries are running in 7 cities and since last year a fee based model has been used, where the librarian charges a nominal fee for each child. Pratham supports the libraries by providing material worth Rs 500 to each library.

2) Read India: is covering approximately 24,000 villages and reaching out to over 1,233,293 children in the state. In Mumbai, the program is called Read Mumbai. The program works on a school and community linkage model whereby a Community Contact Person (CCP) is engaged in each school from the school catchment area. All CCPs prepare a contact list of the children with their names and addresses and conduct pre tests. The CCPs also actually map the distance and time taken for children from different communities to reach school in order to correlate attendance and distance from school. In addition, the CCP also runs the Libraries in the Pratham communities as a way to continue interaction with the children directly and ensure that they have reading material to encourage learning and increase exposure. The target group for this program is Std. I and II. Students of Std. III, IV, V in specific identified locations are also covered through the weekend camp model, to ensure that they can read.

Scholarship program: The Government of Maharashtra holds a state wide examination for all students in classes IV and VII. In 2007, the Government made it mandatory for all government school children in Std IV to appear for the examination. Pratham, in order to ensure that the government’s policy was implemented, started classes as a platform to prepare the 4th std children. The program aims to equip children with the basic skills required to negotiate the scholarship exam. The program focuses both in developing academic knowledge as well as developing logical reasoning and test taking skills. Under the program 8 months of teaching learning activity is conducted where the first 6 months focus on teaching the children and the balance 2 months on practice tests. These classes are being conducted in Mumbai and Pune.

English Classes: An 8 month program is running across 9 cities in the state. The first three months are used to orient and mobilize the students and community. Both community based and school based models are being used to implement the program.

National open School(NOS): Pratham provides support to the out-of-school children planning to sit for the NOS exam in 9 cities. The team interacts with parents and students, orienting them to the exam and requirements of the examination. Guidelines are shared with the students detailing the preparations required and steps needed to be taken for appearing for the exam.

ECCE Center: The ECCE Centre in Mumbai regularly conducts training in early childhood care and education. Each training cycle runs for a period of 6 months and imparts training on the holistic development of children, child psychology, parent education, participation and involvement.

PCVC: In Maharasthra, PCVC works in 4 districts - Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Solarpur. PCVC initiated it’s activities in Mumbai in 2001, and today 66% of the city has been declared child labour free. To build on it’s successes in Mumbai, 6 community centers were initiated on a pilot basis in the city in areas which have been declared child labour free. The objective is to encourage community participation in the maintenance of child labour free areas. A girls shelter has also been set up in the city which caters to about 120 girls.

Skilling centers: The vocational skilling centers are running in 13 locations across the state. In Aurangabad, Pratham in partnership with the Taj group provide training to youth in the hospitality sector. In Latur, Pratham is working with Larsen and Turbo to set up a specialized centre to impart construction training to youth. In Satara, Pratham in collaboration with Godgrej Agrovet is training youth on how to increase productivity in agriculture and allied sectors. In Mumbai, with the support of Deutche Bank, Pratham is imparting training to students for seeking jobs in the banking and financial sector. Pratham is also training youth in jails in the state to attain employable skills which helps make their rehabilitation easier. Trainings have already been conducted in Ratnagiri and Taloja prisons.