How Hippocampus' colour code technique is making reading a reality for underprivileged, rural kids

By Ipsita Basu

A graduate from IIT Madras, Umesh Malhotra was among the first 100 employees at Infosys. During his time with Infosys at Bay Area in California in the 1990s, the local public library struck a chord with him and his family that included his wife and their five-yearold son. The children's section, besides being well-stocked with books, had a variety of activities for kids.

When the family returned to India, in Bengaluru, they searched in vain for an equivalent space. In 2002, Malhotra and his wife started Hippocampus, a library, after selling IT infrastructure company Bangalore Labs that he had founded three years before. Named for the part of the brain that governs learn ing and memory formation, it was the country's first sustainable children's library. "In 2004, we started the Hippocampus Reading Foundation -a non-profit organisation -with the goal of inspiring underprivileged children to read for fun. Three years into the project and the constraints became overwhelming. With fewer than half the children able to read at a grade-appropriate level, even in their native tongues, an active library seemed like a dream," Malhotra said. So in 2007, they introduced the GROWBY reading technique, marked by colours green, red, orange, white, blue and yellow. The starting level, which is green, includes books with 10 simple words per page, while the highest level at yellow comprises chapter books or short story collections. Children's reading capabilities are assessed using simple reading cards and they are assigned books according to their level. A growth chart is used to track children between reading levels.

In June 2011, Malhotra and his team launched Hippocampus Learning Centers. "I was reluctant initially to launch the centers, but a meeting with James Tooley -a professor of education policy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and the author of 'The Beautiful Tree: a personal journey into how the world's poorest people are educating themselves' -convinced me to venture out to address the needs of the community," Malhotra said.

The journey from a corporate to social enterprise has been exhilarating, Malhotra said.