About Us

Started in 1988 with a magazine for children from the underserved communities, Katha’s work spans the literacy to literature continuum. By seamlessly connecting grassroots work in education and urban resurgence, Katha brings children living in poverty into reading and quality education. Over the past three decades, through its many programmes, Katha has helped over one million children help themselves out of poverty.

Katha has several programmes in place to help check poverty across the country. Katha Lab School, Katha’s Slum Resurgence Initiative (SRI), Katha English Academy (KENGA), Katha School of Entrepreneurship (KSE), etc. are some of the many programmes Katha runs to ensure the child receives holistic learning. Katha’s I Love Reading campaign is another initiative undertaken to achieve this. ILR.

Katha’s efforts have been universally recognized!

Katha has been the recipient of the Millennium Alliance award 2013, the ICICI India Inclusive Award 2012, the North India Winner of India NGO Awards 2009 and it has also been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Katha’s I Love Reading programme has also garnered recognition for its work when it was awarded the Millennium Alliance Award in 2013 by USAID and Government of India.

In the year 2015-16 alone, Katha managed to make a difference in the lives of 80,144 children, 911 government primary school teachers and 151 underserved communities in Delhi through ILR (I Love Reading). 26.6% of children attained grade-level reading competency after the Katha intervention and the average attendance was 79%  with a complete 100% retention rate.

On the other end of the creative spectrum is Katha publishing programme that bolsters the reading initiative by producing books that create space for culturally distinctive literature and celebrate the glorious polyphonous multiplicity that is India.

With over 400 published titles, including quality translations of fiction for adults and children in 21 Indian and 12 foreign languages Katha has ignited the minds of over 80,00,000 children till date.

With every carefully chosen and published title, quality has been the single major idea that drives Katha. We have consistently evolved to stay focused on our mission, re-engineered our work to create the most positive impact!