Encyclopaedia Britannica Partners with Katha

Katha fosters the love of learning in children through its innovative educational model of active story-based learning, supported integrally by its book publishing program.

The set of initiatives proposed by Britannica includes providing digital knowledge and learning products for Katha schools and learning centers for underprivileged children in India, as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Britannica will also convert titles owned by Katha into eBooks and distribute them worldwide as a part of its eBook program under the overall eLibrary initiative.

From its repertoire of children’s titles and stories sourced from many Indian languages, Katha will compile a Literature Reader in English as a curricular textbook for Classes 1-8, which Britannica will publish and market in India.

Britannica will, in turn, leverage its channels to offer the Literature Reader to schools abroad that follow Indian curriculum, as part of its curricular offering.

A memorandum, to this effect, was signed between Sarvesh Shrivastava, Managing Director-- South Asia, Encyclopaedia Britannica and Geeta Dharmarajan, Founder and Executive Director of Katha.

Jorge Cauz, President of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., is visiting India to promote digital learning in the South Asia region.

He has been at the center of Britannica’s transformation from a 246-year old publisher of printed reference works to an innovative provider of digital education products in online, mobile and printed versions for individual consumers and families, schools, libraries and universities.

Geeta Dharmarajan, the creative and innovative force behind Katha’s work, for over the 25 years, said, "It gives me great joy that as Katha celebrates its silver jubilee this year, we join forces with such a respected and world-renowned company - Encyclopaedia Britannica - to get great Indian stories into the hands of children worldwide and share India’s rich cultural heritage with them."

Dharmarajan said, "We are living in exciting times where technology is bringing great changes to the educational possibilities for our children. Our partnership with Britannica helps us realize our dream of inspiring children to learn, enabling them to become reader-leaders."

A visibly touched Jorge Cauz, who visited the Katha school located in a slum in South Delhi, said, "I firmly believe that trustworthy digital content coupled with highly motivated teachers, especially like the ones I met at Katha, can play a significant role in promoting literacy among the underprivileged."

Known for its 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica for over two centuries, Britannica has moved beyond its traditional base of reference works to broader educational markets, such as classroom curriculum, e-learning and language instruction, from a print only company to an innovative provider of digital education products.

Sarvesh Shrivastava, Encyclopaedia Britannica Managing Director--South Asia, shared that in the past five years Britannica India has offered trustworthy knowledge and learning solutions, including textbooks, interactive student and teacher resources.

Its teacher training materials help promote higher order thinking skills in the PreK-10 segment for English, Math, Science, Social Studies, General Knowledge and IT.