During President
Obama's recent trip to India, he met Pratham Program
Manager, Usha Rane who spoke about Pratham's Annual
Status of Education Report (ASER)President Obama
commended Pratham for its efforts and autographed a
copy of the report, with the comments "good work."
"ASER uses simple tools to empower people nationwide
to test their childrens' math and reading abilities,
and then hold local government accountable to
outcomes. With this data, ASER creates a Report,
which surveys literacy in 570 districts and 700,000
children of India with citizen participation. Each
year 25,000 volunteers donate 4 days of their time
to gather the data for this report." - Office of the
Press Secretary, White House, November 6, 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/06/expo-democracy-and-open-government
The day prior, President Obama sat shoulder to
shoulder with Pratham Chairman, Ajay Piramal and
Pratham Founder and CEO, Madhav Chavan at a
roundtable discussion on the collaborative ventures
between US and India
businesses, technology and social entrepreneurs.
In his remarks at the US India Business Council and
Entrepreneurship Summit later that evening,
President Obama stated, "These are steps we can
take together to strengthen the economic ties
between our nations - ties that hold incredible
promise for our people and our future -- the
promise
of new jobs, new industries and new growth
. . .
I'm confident because we
both recognize that knowledge is the currency of the
future, and that we must give our children the
skills and education that success requires in a
global economy."