One Billion Literates

2015-16
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly
give.
Kahlil Gibran

May 2016

[ANNUAL REPORT 2015-16]

One Billion Literates Foundation, 72 Cunningham Apartments, 5 Edward Road, Bangalore - 52

During the year, OBLF received

approval to receive funds from foreign
sources, under the Foreign
Contribution Regulation Act, 2010,
from the Home Ministry, the
Government of India.
Having completed 5 years, we have put
in place systems and structures which
will enable us to expand our program to
more rural government primary schools.
We have currently adopted 15 rural
government primary schools in the
Anekal Taluk of Bangalore District and
support 4 urban government primary
schools in the Bangalore East Taluk,
impacting over 600 underprivileged
children.
For the next academic year, we plan to
adopt more rural schools so as to
impact about 1000 rural children and
about 100 urban under-privileged
children.
We have trained and employed 19 rural
women as our Coordinators, to impart
basic English language and Computer
skills to the children of these schools.
About 12 more are being trained to be
employed in the coming academic year.

We are very thankful to

Suprajit Foundation & the H
T Parekh Foundation for
extending their support to
our Rural School Adoption
Program.
We appreciate the
continuing support of the
Maneckji & Shirinbai
Neterwala Foundation.
We thank TaeguTec India
for their support &
encouragement.
Our gratitude to New Silk
Route and Accel Partners
for their support.
We thank Samvit
Technologies for their
continued support.
We are grateful to Ms.
Vinitha Belliappa of The
Cherry Tree, for sketching
for our new curriculum and
donating learning, as well
as concert material.

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

OBLF Impact
As in the past, we conducted a baseline assessment at the beginning
of the academic year, to gauge the existing English language skills of
the children and started teaching them at the levels that were
comfortable for them. At the end of the year, assessments were
conducted again, and a comparison of both these assessments
indicates that 99% of our rural and 85% of our urban school children
showed an improvement in their English knowledge levels.
These assessments also indicated the quantum of progress made.
Over 50% of our 500 rural children scored over 60% marks during
the year-end assessments, as compared to just 10 children at the
beginning of the year.
We also assessed a small control group of children who do not attend
the OBLF program, but attend the same schools / grades. The English
language skills of these children are very low. While over 50% of OBLF
children scored over 60% marks, 100% of the non-OBLF children
secured less than 50%, half of them less than 30%.
We impact each individual life that we touch, in a different way Priyanka of Lakshmisagara, one of
our first students, scored 81% in her
SSLC exams, with 85% in English!

Our regular training sessions have

given a lot of self-confidence to our
rural Coordinators. Veena, one of our
most enterprising ladies, recently
won the Corporation elections from
her ward.
Two of our Coordinators, Vidya and
Padma, while continuing to pursue
their studies, are now also active
members of their Panchayats.
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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

Current Years Activities

1. Use of Tablets
The Tablets that were inducted in our
program last year, are now also being used by
our rural Coordinators for Assessment
purposes. The children of course continue to
use them for reaffirming what they have
learnt.
2. Adoption of 6 new schools
During the year, OBLF adopted 6 new
Government Primary Schools at
Samanahalli, Solepura, Narayanagatta,
Banahalli, Thirumanagondanahalli and
Thinmaiahdoddi villages in Anekal Taluk.
Unfortunately, due to logistical
difficulties, we had to suspend our
program in Balagaranahalli school during
the year. However, having sorted out the
logistics, we plan to recommence our
program in this school in the coming
academic year.

3. Visit by Muse Creations June 2015

A few Japanese ladies from the Muse

Creations group visited our Chandapura
school and interacted with our children,
who enjoyed the games, the music and
the origami art they were introduced
to.
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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

4. Prize Distribution Function August 2015

On 8 th August, 2015, OBLF had its
annual function to distribute
prizes to the merit children of all
our schools, at Lakshmisagara
school.
To provide an incentive to the
children as well as the parents,
we opened Fixed Deposit
Accounts with Canara Bank in
the name of the 1 st and 2 nd
ranked children. For the Seniors,
we gave Rs.2,500/-, Rs.1,500/and Rs.500/- to the 1 st , 2 nd and
3 rd ranked children. For the
Juniors, we gave Rs.1,000/- and
Rs.500/- to the 1 st , and 2 nd
ranked children. All the children
also received interesting English
story books.
On the occasion, our children as
well as our rural Coordinators
put up a grand show of English
songs, rhymes and skit. The
function was well attended.
We are grateful to the Head
Mistress and SDMC members of
Lakshmisagara school for
permitting OBLF to use their
premises for this function as
well as our weekly training and
other sessions.

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

5. Muse Charity Bazaar September 2015

As in the past, OBLF participated at the
Muse Charity Bazaar, organized by Mrs.
Miho Malhan of Muse Creations. We
thank Mrs. Malhan and the other
Japanese ladies for inviting us, and for
their unstinted support to our cause.

6. Renewal of MOU with BEO Anekal October 2015

In October 2015 One Billion Literates renewed its 5 year MOU with the
Block Education Officer of Anekal Taluk, for a further period of 5 years.
OBLF is grateful to the BEO for his support to OBLF and dedication to the
cause of education.
7. Joy of Giving Week October 2015
During the Joy of Giving Week from 2nd to 8th
October, 2015, the employees of the Red Bus
Line Co. once again very enthusiastically
fulfilled all the wishes of our 400+ kids that
were put up on the Wish Tree.
Employees of Intuit India also fulfilled the
wishes of some of our poorest kids in 3 of
our remotest schools, by buying them exotic
gifts.
Also fulfilling many of OBLFs wishes were the
generous employees of TaeguTec India,
Happiest Minds, Biocon, IHS Global and
Ibibo. We thank the employees of all these
companies for their generosity, and their
Managements for organizing these events.

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

8. NGO Mela at Yodlee Infotech October 2015

This year as well, OBLF
participated in an NGO Mela
organised by Yodlee Infotech, as
part of the Joy of Giving Week.
We are grateful to the team at
Yodlee Infotech, for inviting us.

9. Drawing Competition by Leeboy India December 2015

Leeboy India held a Drawing
competition at two of our schools at
Lakshmisagara and Muthanallur.
They turned the 12 prize-winning
entries into a calendar for 2016! We
are truly grateful to them for this novel
idea.
The kids enjoyed themselves
thoroughly.

10.

Collection Drive at Shishya Nursery December 2015

Once again, OBLF had a
Christmas collection drive at
Shishya Nursery, where the
parents of the students
donated generously.

We thank the parents and the

Principal of Shishya Nursery
Mrs. Lakshmi Vijeyndra for her
support and the schools own
generous donation

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

11. Reappointment of the Trustees January 2016

Five of our Board members, whose term expired in January 2016, were
reappointed. However, on 21st April, 2016, Nikesh Jain resigned from the
Board, due to relocation to Pune. The Board, and OBLF are extremely
grateful to Nikesh for his contribution to OBLF as a Trustee as well as
volunteer and donor. Nikesh will continue to be associated with OBLF.
Sangeeta Mahendran, who is Director Global Capabilities & Shared
Operations, Hewlett Packard, was appointed Trustee, in place of Nikesh Jain.
Our Board of Trustees has six members, consisting of
S.No Name

Anamika
Majumder
Aashu Calapa

Gend Age Position in

er
Board
F
42
Managing
Trustee
M
48
Trustee

Arvind Malhan

43

Trustee

Manosh Sengupta M

57

Trustee

Sangeeta
Mahendran

49

Trustee

Rajan Narayanan

57

Trustee

Occupation
Software
Engineer
Director, Live
Love Laugh
Foundation
Partner, New
Silk Route
Founder
brand-@itude
Director
Global
Capabilities &
Shared
Operations,
Hewlett
Packard

Total amount
paid by OBLF
---

----

Promoter
Director
Second Avenue
& People
English.

--

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

12.

Year-end Assessments February 2016

In February 2016, we had the yearend Assessments written and oral
- for all our over 600 children, in
the rural as well as urban schools
to gauge the impact of our
intervention.
The results indicate that 99% of our
rural children improved their
knowledge of the English language.
Assessment of a control group of
Senior children who do not attend
the OBLF program definitely prove
the effectiveness of our program.

13. OBLF Picnic February 2016

To unwind after the rigors of the
whole year and the year-end
assessments, Team OBLF went on a
picnic to Balmuri falls. Our
Coordinators had a super time
singing, dancing and swimming.

14. FCRA Approval March 2016

On 13th March, 2016, OBLF received its Registration under the Foreign
Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, thus permitting us to receive donations
from foreign sources.
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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

15. Special training April 2016

This April, we had a special 3 day
training for our Coordinators, by
Mrs. Usha Kumar, ex-Dean of Mt.
Carmel college. She brought new
vigour and enthusiasm to our
Coordinators.

16. Summer Program 18th April to 20th May 2016

To keep the children engaged even during
the holidays, we started our Summer
Program on 18 th April, 2016 at 2 centres,
where children from all our rural schools
gather daily for 3 hours of fun-filled
learning through games, songs, rhymes,
activities, story-telling etc.
This year saw an unprecedented number
of children attending this program. The
children thoroughly enjoy the way we
conduct the program and they love the
experience of school bus travel, thanks
to the TTs provided, to convey them from
their villages to this central place.
The children and OBLF are indeed
grateful to Suprajit Engineering Limited
and TaeguTec India P. Ltd. for assisting
the children with transportation, to
reach the Summer Program daily, and on
time.

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

17. OBLF Car April 2016

OBLF found great benefactors in Sreevidya

and her family, who, upon relocating to the
USA, found it fit to donate their car for a
good cause. Considering the remoteness of
our area of operation and the distances we
need to cover, their donation will go a long
way in helping us in our training and other
activities. We are truly grateful to them.

18. TCS 10K Run May 2016

As in the past years, we took part in the TCS

10K Run. This year, we had an
unprecedented 63 runners participating on
our behalf, of which 56 were from
TaeguTec India. We are extremely grateful
to their CFO, Mr. Rakesh Arakere, for
driving this initiative.
OBLF also had an unprecedented number
of Care Champions, who have raised well
over Rs.5.50 lakhs. We thank all our Care
Champions for their dedication to our
cause.

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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

Our Gratitude
We express our sincere thanks to all our donors, supporters, mentors,
volunteers and well-wishers. Your continued support will enable us to provide
our children the quality of education they deserve and need to live a life of
dignity, and to participate in the progress of our nation.

Anamika Majumder
Founder & Managing Trustee

Ruby Kamdin
Director

People

Director: Ruby Kamdin

Program Supervisor (Rural): Mahesh Shetty
Technology: Mahadevan
Program Supervisor (Urban): Jayashree
Coordinators: Swapna, Manju, Veena, Vanishree, Padmavathi, Ashwini,
Shobha, Varalakshmi, Kavitha D, Baby, Vidya, Vani, Puthamma, Prema,
Kavitha M, Kalpana, Pavithra, Geetha
Volunteers & supporters: Ruby, Mahadevan, Jayashree, Nikesh, Pratima,
Pradip, Rohinton, Brojen, Usha Kumar, Archna, Simi, Shantanu, Tarun,
Kavitha Prasad, Latha, Sudha, Himja, Shubha, Mahesh, Aruna, Divya,
Sangeetha, Shreya.
Legal
Registered Charitable Trust u/s 12AA
FCRA Approved
IT 80-G approved.
Chartered Accountants:
Philips Cherian & Associates,
2497, 17th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore 560008.
Foundation Office:
72, Cunningham Apartments,
5, Edward Road,
Bangalore 560052
Tel: 9632600650
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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

Financials
BALANCE SHEET AS AT MARCH 31 2016
LIABILITIES

AMOUNT(INR)

General Fund+
Excess of Income
Over Expenditure
Corpus Fund

1,696,712.38
650,000.00

Advance

4,198.30

TOTAL

2,350,910.68

ASSETS

Computers,
Furniture and
Library Books
Loan to Staff &
other advances
Products
FFFunds
Cash/Bank
Balance

AMOUNT(INR)

49,325.08
95,356.66
124,768.65
2,081,460.29
2,350,910.68

INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31 2016

EXPENDITURE

AMOUNT (INR)

INCOME

AMOUNT (INR)

Opening value and

Purchase of Products

131,662.74

Donations

Project Expenses

1,355,618.00

Sale of Products

Admin Expenses

18,623.14

Others

183,168.66

147,560.00

Events

412,885.00

Closing value of
Products

124,768.65

Events
Depreciation
Excess of Income
over Expenditure
TOTAL

6,770.61

1,134,120.00
5800.00

200,507.82
1,860,742.31

TOTAL

1,860,742.31

We bank with:
Canara Bank, Cunningham Road Branch, Bangalore
Account name: One Billion Literates Foundation
Account no.: 0431101203551
FCRA Account no.: 0431101206628
IFSC Code: CNRB0000431
State Bank of India, Health City Branch, Hosur Road, Bangalore
Account name: One Billion Literates Foundation
Account number: 31445249698

IFSC Code: SBIN0010450

For more information: www.onebillionliterates.org www.facebook.com/onebillionliterates

http://www.youtube.com/user/oblfvideo
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One Billion Literates Foundation Annual Report 2015-16