Pratham Books Annual Report

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AnnuAl RepoRt2006 - 2007

Reaching out to children in every corner of India

Pratham

Books


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www.prathambooks.org


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Pratham Books

Reaching out to children in every corner of India

AnnuAl RepoRt2006 - 2007


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Boardof TrusTees

Ms. Rohini Niekani

Chairperson

Mr. Ashok KamathManaging Trustee

Ms. Rekha Menon

Trustee

Ms. Kanchan Bannerjee

Trustee


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A Book In Every Chids HandA substantia part of Prathams success as a network derives from its abiity to harness the energy of individuas and institutions

with whom it works to achieve its goas. The determination to do what wi work is striking; for eampe, the focus on

deivering pre-schoo education because it means a higher chance that the chid wi then continue on to schoo. As part of

its innovation, and in attempting to address some of the key deficiencies confronting educators in India, Pratham Books was

created a itte over three years ago to pubish high-quaity, affordabe books with good content in many Indian anguages.

A sma team has toied to make this happen and we can see that each year has turned out to be more eciting than the

previous ones. How did we do this year? We finished this year (2006-07) with a significant amount of success:

We printed neary 1.5 miion books during this financia year

We shipped over 1 miion books to our readers this financia year

We innovated with the hep of eperts in the Pratham network and brought out ow cost story cards which

contained simpe stories for eary readers. The Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan governments bought neary 2 miion of

these story cards this year

We reached the miestone of our 125th individua tite (not counting anguage editions)

Our Shishuvachan series has been enthusiasticay received especiay in the Hindi-speaking bet

Our books are now being read by chidren in a corners of the country from Nagaand to Rajasthan; from Kashmir

to the Andaman and Nicobar Isands

Today, we pubish our books in as many as ten Indian anguages chidren have been reading our books in Hindi, Marathi,

Gujarati, Tami, Teugu, Kannada, Bengai, Punjabi, Urdu, Oriya and of course in Engish the anguage that most parents

are now ooking to get their chidren educated in. None of our books are priced at more than Rs. 25 most are between

Rs.15-20 and this is what makes them affordabe across the country.

What does this mean in terms of readership? If one assumes that each one of the books we have shipped is read by ten

chidren on an average, then we have this past year faciitated over 10 miion chid-reads for our books aone. More, when

you start to incude the fact that there are a set of 24 reading cards in 37,500 cassrooms in Uttar Pradesh and neary 22,000

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cassrooms in Rajasthan. But there are sti miions of chidren whom we have not yet reached and this is where our

chaenges for the future ie.

Why is reading literacy so important? In modern societies, iteracy and specificay reading iteracy is a pre-requisite

for success in ife. Various studies have shown the correation between iteracy and achievement in society. Reading is

essentia for chidren to be proficient in any schoo subject and indeed it is this ack of reading iteracy that has beenthe reason for a schoo dropout rate of neary 53% in India. The European report on the Quaity of Education in 2002

states: The ability to read and understand instructions and text is a basic requirement of success in all school subjects. The

importance of literacy skills does not, however, come to an end when children leave school. Such skills are the key to all areas

of education and beyond, facilitating participation in the wider context of lifelong learning and contributing to individuals

social integration and personal development.

Prof. A. Jaauddin, our countrys eading epert on chidrens earning, has often said that to create a thinking nation we

need to first create a reading nation. If we beieve in this, as we do, then it becomes a sacred duty for us to ensure that

our chidren have the access to read good content in their mother tongues so that they are abe to think independenty,articuate and epress themseves independenty. Reading research is another goa of Pratham Books and during this

coming year we wi be investing more of our resources in enhancing our earning in this crucia area.

From India, sprang the first-ever chidrens book more than 2,000 years agoa coection of taes caed the Panchatantra.

The country, which has 18 officia anguages and more than 1,600 diaects, pubishes books for chidren which mosty

draw on these taes, egends and heroic past eras. How many tites of chidrens books are avaiabe in our country in a

anguages? The Federation of Indian Pubishers (FIP) in recent times had compied the atest statistics on Indian book

pubishing, in their report tited 50 Years of Book Pubishing in India since Independence. According to this source

about 11,000 pubishers in India bring out neary 60,000 tites in a year. To be more specific, in 1997, 57,386 books were

pubished in the country in 17 Indian anguages and Engish, had a share of about 22 per cent. This means that the number

of chidrens books pubished in the country woud be about 3,000 tites every year which is a sma number compared to

the needs of the chidren in India. What this means is the entire chidrens pubishing industry has to work at producing

more tites in arger numbers of copies to serve our chidren who are starved for good reading content.

Finay, what is a better return than to see a five-year od beaming smies because she now owns that one book she aways

wanted to have? How do we make this happen? Pratham Books has during the year eperimented with many possibe

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channes to reach chidren with varying degrees of success. For eampe, some of the bawadi teachers in the Pratham network

have been seing the books for a nomina saes commission this has enabed them to get a itte etra income and enhanced

their sense of empowerment. We hope to do more of this during the coming years.

Out of the many books we pubished during the year, we need to mention a book that was written and iustrated by chidren

in Aahabad Hamari Pratham Kahaniyan has been pubished in Hindi and has been oved by a who read the book. This book

came out of our effort in faciitating creativity workshops for chidren and we wi do more of this in the future.

In our endeavour to make reading a peasurabe activity for chidren, we tried new book formats. A set of biingua picture

books had the story running in Engish and in another anguage. The biingua books in Engish-Marathi, Engish-Hindi and

Engish-Kannada have heped chidren to earn two anguages at one go. Our pubishing ist incuded two pop-up books, Beaks

of Birds and Home sweet Home, a set of four story books based on the environment and another set of four foktaes from

around the word.

A these accompishments are because of the dedication of the entire Pratham Books team a sma team but highy

committed to the cause of A Book in Every Chids Hand. We are aso gratefu to the entire Pratham network, our customers

around the country and many others authors, iustrators, transators, reviewers, designers, printers - who joined hands with

us in the march to make India a Reading Country.

Jai Hind!!!

Rohini Niekani Ashok Kamath

Chairperson Managing Trustee

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The Word Of Pratham BooksPratham Books has etended its reach many times over in the past year. We are touching the

ives of chidren across the country that are underserved by the mainstream pubishing industry.

In addition to the nine anguages that we are aready printing in, we have added Bengai and

Gurumukhi to our repertoire and our books are reaching out to many more states in India.

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NORTHERN lIGHTS

Supporting Prathams Read India Campaign

In North India, as Prathams Read India campaign gained momentum, so did the need for creating content for miions of

chidren who were becoming new readers. In response to Prathams demand for simpe, ow cost reading materia, theRead India content group seected 24 tites from our Shishuvachan series to be distributed in 21 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The books were converted into story cards and the ay out was changed to fit an A4 page size. We printed them at the cost

of Rs. 2 per story card and the first consignment comprised 900,000 story cards that were dispatched to hundreds of viages

across Uttar Pradesh.

Pratham Rajasthan foowed suit and ordered over 400,000 story cards. Pratham lucknow ordered 300,000 story cards for

distribution to the Pratham ibraries. Our story cards have aso reached Agra, Gauriganj and Varanasi.

In addition to this, we handed over print-ready fies to Pratham Bihar, Pratham Gujarat, Pratham Assam, Pratham West Benga

and Aid India, Chennai, for printing the story cards on their own. The sheer scae and speed of this operation is reason for us

to fee proud, to say nothing of the number of chidren reached, many of whom wi get such attractive reading materia for

the first time.

Stepping Into New Territories

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Himacha Pradesh bought 4,000 copies of 22 of our Shishuvachan books in

Hindi for distribution to a its government schoos in the 13 districts of the state.

In the Pratham ibraries in Punjab, 33 of our tites, pubished for the first time in

Gurumukhi, are avaiabe to the chidren.

Working For And With ChidrenWe conducted a writing and iustrating workshop for chidren who attend

Pratham ibraries at Aahabad ast year. Hamari Pratham Kahaniyan is a book

that came out of this workshop and has been appreciated by a those who

have seen it.

A second writing workshop was hed in the ast week of March and we wi

soon bring out another book written and iustrated by our chidren.

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SOUTHERN SOJOURNS

Books in Tami, Teugu and Kannada and Urdu were sent to schoos and ibraries

across a the states in southern India and they have reached as far as the Andaman

and Nicobar Isands. UNICEF ordered 13,000 copies of our books for the schoos

that were rebuit on the isands after the tsunami disaster in 2004.

Turte Story, a charmingy iustrated book about the Oive Ridey turtes of

Orissa kinded the interest of chidren in the viages of Tami Nadu, hundreds of

kiometers away. UNICEF ordered 3,500 copies of the book for chidren associated

with its programmes in Tami Nadu.

The four books in the History Series too were reprinted in Tami to be distributed

by UNICEF.

Education Deveopment Centre, an organization working in Karnataka bought two

of our Science Series tites in Kannada, to suppy to 2,000 schoos across the state.

Our Urdu tites found their way into remote hamets in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh

and Karnataka.

Books That Created Waves

In 2006, thousands of chidren in Bangaore earnt how to read under the Karnataka learning Partnerships reading

programme (a joint initiative between Akshara Foundation and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan). As a foow-up to the programme,

Radio Mirchi supported the effort by doing an on-air campaign to Pedge a Pratham Book. listeners were encouraged to gifta Pratham Book to chidren who had earned how to read. The media campaign benefited many chidren in Bangaore and aso

created awareness about Pratham Books. Truy, a case of books making waves... radio waves.

Onine Offers

For the first time, Pratham Books partnered with Fabma (www.indiapaza.com) to make our books avaiabe onine through

their onine store. A promotion was run during Diwai and specia gift sets of Pratham Books were created. Companies and

individuas spread the Diwai cheer by buying and gifting these books.

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Fair And Fun

Pratham Books participated in the Bangaore Book Fair and the NCERT Book Fair, hed in Bangaore for the first time. The

eperience provided an opportunity for us to showcase our books and generate interest in pubishers and readers aike. Many

pubishers were surprised to see that it was possibe to bring out ow-priced books of such good quaity.

Some private schoos ike Shishugriha and Sri Kumaran Chidrens Home invited Pratham Books to dispay and se its books

during their periodic parent-teacher meetings. Students, teachers and parents bought books in Engish and other anguages.

The schoos aso bought severa books for their ibraries. Ive aways been on the ook out for attractive books in regiona

anguages for my young readers, now I know where to get them! ecaimed a deighted ibrarian.

Corporate Fairs

Many corporates supported us by etting us set up stas in their offices and encouraged their empoyees to buy our books. It was

interesting to see young eecutives buy dozens of books to gift to chidren. Every year, on one particuar day, a empoyees of our

company gift whatever possibe to an orphanage. Net year Im definitey going to gift books from Pratham Books! said a young

eecutive. We were abe to reach out to Hewett Packard, Motoroa, Teas Instruments, JP Morgan, Mphasis and ING Vysya.

Whie empoyees in some of these companies bought the books for themseves, some of the companies bought books to give

away as gifts to underprivieged chidren.

Another interesting first was getting young women who run preschoos (balwadis) in sum

communities to se Pratham Books for a sma commission. We started this recenty and the

first bawadi teacher got a cheque for Rs. 297 from us for her efforts.

Making Mamthas Word More Coourfu!

Mamtha, a Cass 5 student of a government schoo in Banashankari competes her schoo

assignments in between heping her famiy make pottery products. Mamthas parents migrated

to Bangaore from Rajasthan, and they ive in tents aong a busy highway, making pots, panters,

idos and other artifacts using paster of paris and cay. Mamtha knew ony two paces - the

schoo and the pavement.

One day she visited a book fair across the street at the NCERT premises. I never knew

there coud be so many kinds of books, said the itte gir ooking at a the coourfu

story books at the Pratham Books sta with awe. A itte ater she hurried back in the rain,

cutching a Pratham Book gifted to her. She didnt say it aoud, but the ook she gave said it

a, Now I know so much more of the word.

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GOING EAST

We were deighted to have reached out to chidren in Indias North-East. Our books are now in Nagaand. A the 1425 viages

in the state wi soon have community ibraries. The ibraries are being started by Pratham with 100 books each, of which 78 are

Pratham Books tites in Engish.

In Assam, some of our books are being transated into Assamese for Prathams Read India campaign and its ibraries.

We now have 38 of our tites avaiabe in Bengai. We participated in the prestigious Kokata Book Fair for the first time. There

was great interest in the Engish and Bengai tites. Our popuar books Ganga and Made in India received positive feedback. We

hope to make a mark in this book-oving state over the coming years.

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WESTWARD HO

Chidren in Maharashtra seem to be avid readers. Do you have quiz books and poetry books? asked 10-year

od Ani. In another schoo, itte Ramya wanted to know if we had books that coud hep her do eperiments.

Feedback from chidren is aways wecome, for it is chidren who are the raison detre for Pratham Books. Schoo

fairs bring out one desire very ceary - when it comes to we-written and we-iustrated books, chidren definitey

want more!!

Pratham Books hed a dispay and sae of its books at Cathedra Schoo, Vishwajyot Schoo and DAV Schoo

in Mumbai. Parents, teachers and kids visiting the ehibition were impressed with our books and the array of

anguages that they were pubished in. In the coming years, we woud ike to reach out to aided and semi-aided

government schoos in a the states in India.

For first time UNICEF Mumbai bought 11,700 books from us for schoos in the viages of latur and Nadurbar.

Overa, this year has been an eciting one for Pratham Books. In addition to the wide range

books pubished during the year, there are severa new books on the anvi. These

incude story books, picture books for younger chidren, non-fiction books on

mathematics, science and nature.

We wi continue our efforts to put a book in the hands of every chid in

the remotest corners of the country, to make India a Reading Country.

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Sampurna Murti, Regional Manager, Northis a biochemist by training and taught Chemistryfor many years to high schoo students. She wended her way into Pratham Books because of her ove for

books and reading. She ikes watching sunsets on beaches and enjoys watching movies, traveing, isteningto music and meeting peope. She has ived in many parts of India and knows 6 anguages.

Manisha Chaudhry, Editorial Consultant,is an avid reader and oves the mountains. Her ideaof heaven is to sit under a tree on a windy, coo day and read whie eating an orange. She ikes animas

and is particuary smitten by dogs. She studied iterature and mass communication and has worked in the

deveopment sector for 21 years. She is an often harassed but rather happy mother of two chidren whoteach her patience everyday. Her other interests are peope, music, art and spirituaity.

Mala Kumar, Editorial Consultant,is permanenty muti tasking. She burnsthe unch whie admiring a sunbird. Writes best-seers in the mind whie tending seven

potted pants. Meets interesting peope whie wearing the garb of a journaist. Activey

participates in street sports ranging from lagori to cricket. Counts stars rather thanmoney. Has a arge famiy that bears with it a.

Ishwar Daitota, Editorial Consultant,was born and brought up in a remoteviage in India where the nearest schoo and ibrary was 4 kms away. He is a career

journaist and has edited eading Kannada daiies. He aso hosts reguar TV shows. He

has authored over 20 books and is a visiting professor at two universities. He is an avid

coector of pens and has over 13,000 of them. His hobbies incude reading and eating

timepass kaekai (groundnuts) whie waking aone.

THE PRATHAM BOOKS TEAM


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Utkarsha Manish, Editorial Consultant,has done her Ph. D. in Zooogy. A former coegeecturer, she has aso been a content writer. She has been writing artices on nature and its conservation

for nature-reated magazines and newspapers. She ikes to go for nature waks, oves animas and

pants. Her famiy incudes her husband, daughter, parents-in-aws, 3 cats, and many injured animas,

which end up at her house for recovery. Aong with some birds, turtes, there are occasiona geckos,

bats and snakes.

Mukesh Aggarwal, Design Consultant,is a commerce graduate who decided totrade accounting for design. He is a cricket fan and his famiy incudes his wife, parents, brother,

daughter and son. He oves to create new ideas. He has been designing cataogues, annua

reports, posters, magazines, printing materias and chidren books since he was 14 years od.

His favourite coour is green and he oves sweets.

David Timothy, Manager Operations, spent his chidhood surrounded by books from hisfathers ibrary and was often haued up for disguising storybooks as tetbooks. He has been invoved in

different aspects of the book word - ibrary, retai, marketing, production and distribution. He aso writes

for newspapers and magazines on popuar music. lives in Bangaore, a city he oves and bemoans its ost

past gory when in the company of feow Bangaoreans.

Purvi Shah, Brand Manager, has a voice thats a thunder and ightning. So much is she inove with frowning, that her now 40 day od son does the same. A workahoic and ceaniness freak

(she is a true Virgo, you see) she oves watching movies, reading and bragging about her amost

perfect husband. An MBA in marketing, she has dabbed in the fieds of saes, event marketing,

advertising and now manages brand Pratham Books.


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14

Particularsasat March

31,www2007

asat March 31,

2006

liabilities

Corpus Fund 7,354,302.27 8,897,971.74

Current liabiities 6,230,449.39 387,895.40

Advances Received From Buyers 350,541.79 1,955.00

total 13,935,293.45 9,287,822.14

assets

Fied Assets 333,458.71 172,711.88

Deposits 1,500.00 21,500.00

Rajiv Gandhi Foundation -

Receivabe A/c304,708.08 284,708.08

Debtors 5,263,633.50 780,464.96

TDS Recoverabe 13,206.39 2,122.23

Prepaid Epenses - 15,000.00

Stock Of Books 4,683,478.00 2,560,431.44

Cash In Hand 14,990.00 10,997.30

Cash In Bank 2,142,392.77 4,882,590.25

Deferred Deveopment Epenses 1,177,926.00 557,296.00

total 13,935,293.45 9,287,822.14

PRATHAM BOOKS - BAlANCE SHEET AS

ON MARCH 31, 2007 (Figures In Rupees)


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ParticularsYearended March

31, 2007

Yearended March

31, 2006

incoMe

Sae Of Books 15,462,599.56 6,365,627.45

Donations Recieved 102,600.00 8,590,000.00

Increase/ (Decrease) In Vaue Of

Stock Of Books2,123,046.56 1,862,495.05

Other Incomes 344,193.93 65,195.73

Ecess Of Ependiture Over Income 1,543,669.47 -

total 19,576,109.52 16,883,318.23

exPenditure

Book Deveopment Epenses 17,263,085.82 9,875,554.85

Adminstrative Epenses 1,985,487.53 730,662.84

Promotiona Epenses 71,290.00 44,982.50

Depreciation 256,246.17 68,395.88

Ecess Of Income Over Ependiture - 6,16,3722.17

total 19,576,109.52 16,883,318.23

PRATHAM BOOKS - INCOME & ExPENDITURE FOR

THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2007 (Figures in Rupees)


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Pratham Books

No. 633/634,4th C Main, 6th B Cross,

OMBR Layout, Banaswadi,Bangalore - 560 043

Karnataka, India

Ph: +91 80 25429726 / 27 Fax: +91 80 25429726

E-mail: [email protected]

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