Despite the intense heat in India in April, May and June, school summer vacations provide a great opportunity for interacting with children. School buildings are empty and therefore can be used for a variety of children's activities. In many cases, children especially from poorer families do not go anywhere for summer vacations - they are free, available and eager to be engaged in something new and different.
Following up on the success of the accelerated reading experiments conducted across the country between January and March, many Pratham teams decided to use the summer vacations this year for Read India camps. In Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad and Ahmedabad children from the neighbourhood were invited to come to the nearby school building for a few hours a day. In Rajasthan, much of the activity was based in the community. In Patna, Pratham Education Centres were the center of reading activity. In Ahmedabad, the program was entirely carried out by volunteers from other non-governmental organizations and colleges. In Bangalore, summer camps were conducted not only in Kannada but also in Urdu. The duration of these camps ranged from three weeks in Patna to eight weeks in Rajasthan.
Close to 46,500 children participated in Read India summer camps ¹. Many of these children were in-school children whose reading skills needed improvement. Out of school children who lived in the same locality were also encouraged to join these camps. In addition, other agencies and organizations have also used the technique to carry out their own programs and activities. Across the country, the response from children and parents has been overwhelmingly positive.

From January to June 2003, Pratham's direct and daily experiences with children who have participated in Read India activities will reach close to 160,000 children. In Maharashtra, a successful pilot in in government schools in two rural blocks, has led the state government to adopt Pratham's technique state-wide for all its primary schools. Assisted by Pratham, the government of Assam is using this technique as an experiment in its urban programs. Across the country, Pratham teams have been training and interacting with other NGOs. Thus through Pratham's catalytic work a much larger number of children have learned to read.
As individuals working with children, this has been a tremendous learning experience for us. As an organization, it has been a period of intense activity and reflection. The learning for Pratham as a whole has been immense.
Read India is an innovation in the truest sense of the word. Every aspect of our work has been changed as a result of this new technique. We no longer distinguish between in school children or out of school children, between community-based settings and school-based locations. This head-start in reading is exciting and effective for every child who has not learned to read yet. We have generated new materials, experimented with simpler training and communication techniques, created films to document this exciting time, innovated with new approaches to assessment and involved a wide range of partners in evaluating the impact of our work. Our engagement and partnership with government is much more active than in the past. Our working relationships with other agencies, institutions and organizations have moved on to a newer plane. We are suddenly looking ahead to exciting emerging horizons in books and libraries to sustain and strengthen children's interest and reading skills.
We strongly believe that the every child in India can learn to read in a short span of two to three months. The results from Pratham's demonstration phase can be replicated across India. If we can do it, everyone can do it.

Participation Of Children In Summer Camps: By City And Duration

State	City	Number of children who took baseline test	Duration of camp: starting date, ending date	Number of actual working days during summer camp period
Delhi	Delhi	19232	May 12 - June 21	~ 35 days
Uttar Pardesh	Noida	359	May 2 - July 3	~ 45 days
	Allahabad	2308	May 12 - June 21	~ 35 days
	Lucknow	4365	May 14 - June 26	~ 35 days
Rajasthan	Jaipur	2739	Rajasthan figures are mid test
	Jodhpur	2227
	Kishangarh	1154
Bihar	Patna	1348	June 1- june 21	~ 18 days
Karnataka	Bangalore	6493	April 16 - june 4	~ 40 days
Gujarat	Ahmedabad	6182	May 1 - june 13	~ 21 days
	Total	46407

Source: Pratham Resource Centre: Research and Assessment Unit, July 2003

SummerCamp 2003 City wise Breakup

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