History
Room to Read was co-founded and launched by John Wood, Erin Keown Ganju and Dinesh Shrestha in 1999 after Wood visited several local schools in Nepal. He observed the teachers' and students' enthusiasm and lack of resources, which led him to quit his job and build a global team to create sustainable programs that help solve their education challenges [5] [6]
Wood and Shrestha worked with rural communities to build schools called School Room and established libraries called Reading Room. They later expanded beyond libraries, to begin the Girls' Education program in 2000, which focuses on young girls and provides a long-term commitment to their education. [5]
In 2001, Ganju launched Room to Read in Vietnam. [7] Since then, Room to Read's operations have expanded to include 20 countries.
In 2024, the writer Jacinta Kerketta turned down the Room to Read Young Author award; she said this was because of Room to Read's ties to Boeing, Israel and the arms industry. [8]
Programs
Room to Read's Literacy Program supports literacy development for primary school students. The organization works with local authors and illustrators to create and distribute children's books. [9] It also introduced an online learning platform called Literacy Cloud during the COVID-19 pandemic. [2]
Through its Girls' Education Program, Room to Read supports girls with resources, mentorship and a life skills curriculum that helps them overcome challenges to education. [1]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
