Pratham began its work in U.P. IN 2001, on an invitation from the Government, to join the Janshala program to help mainstream out of school children. In 2006, Pratham and SSA jointly launched the Nai Disha program - a basic learning program in 20 districts. The objective of Nai Disha was to ensure that all children in Std 1 and 2 learned to read simple text fluently and were confidently able to do basic arithmetic operations. Nai Disha laid the foundation for the Read India program which was launched in 2007.

The key programs running in UP are :

• Direct programs: Balwadis, English and Urdu classes are running in the cities of Agra, Lucknow, Rampur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Saharanpur reaching approximately in 20,000 children every month. Libraries are also running across the urban cities of UP.
   
• Read India: Read India is running in 70 districts reaching approximately 300,000 children. Read India was an extension of the Nai Disha program in the state where joint Pratham and SSA teams worked in the blocks, clusters and schools.
   
• PCVC: In UP, PCVC is present in the cities of Kanpur, Lucknow , Banaras and the rural block of Beharaich. 7059 children are covered under this program and 228 bastis are covered in the three cities mentioned above.
   
• ECCE: An ECCE center has been established in UP and is providing regular trainings in early childhood care and education.