Akshar Sarita Foundation
Our Motto:
Empowering through reading
Our Vision & Mission:
Promote reading among children. Provide a wide range of books to children from lower-income groups, who do not have access to books & inculcate a love for reading amongst them.
Our Activity:
Conducting Library Classes for children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
Beginning & growth:
Akshar Sarita Foundation is an educational initiative launched by renowned Marathi author, Ms Shobha Bondre and her friend, Ms Vijaya Joshi both avid readers. In 2011, they started a free library for the children of Gosavi Vasti, in Kothrud, Pune.
“I actively promote any cause that could help individuals enhance their knowledge and skills. The idea behind ASF is to promote the love for reading in children, especially from low-income groups who do not have easy access to books, and also to make them aware of the importance of education.” claims Ms Shobha Bondre.
This initiative slowly gained momentum and grew steadily in scope and reach. By 2020, ASF was conducting 17 Library Classes in schools across Pune and its outskirts and providing books to approximately 800 students every week.
From 2020 to 2022, since most schools were working in a virtual learning format, ASF created 300 audio and video clips in Marathi and English, of stories, poems, general knowledge, etc. and shared 1 audio or video clip each day with the students in order to keep alive their interest in reading.
After a gap of two years, in June 2022, as schools began to revert to the offline format, ASF once again started conducting its activity, ‘Library Classes’ in all the institutions and schools, which were associated with the organization before the pandemic.
It was a new beginning. Fortunately, there was timely financial help from a few individuals, as well as from Rotary Club of Pune, NIBM. So ASF could expand its activity in many more schools. The number of volunteers also increased and by the end of academic year 2023-24, ASF started conducting 42 Library Classes in different schools from Pune and Mumbai for around 2000 students.