Encyclopaedia Britannica, best known for its most authoritative reference material has partnered with Katha, a leading independent Indian publisher to take the best Indian stories to children across the world. Katha has published books with over 300 titles translated from 21 Indian languages. It fosters the love of learning in children through its innovative education model of active story-based learning, supported integrally by its book publishing program.
The set of initiatives includes providing digital knowledge and learning products to 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. It will 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, Katha.
Jorge Cauz, President, Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. who visited India to promote digital learning in the South Asia region, 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.'
Dharmarajan 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. 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’.
Known for its 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica, it 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.