The great reading bonanza with over 2 million participant children unfolds with ‘One Nation Reading Together'(ONRT) Event

Vinod Kakumanu
Feb. 1, 2020, 3:36 p.m.

The annual pan-India reading event, ‘One Nation Reading Together’, saw the participation of over 2 million children from 2100 K-12 schools.

It was the 13th edition of One Nation Reading Together (ONRT) event. The event is organized annually by Scholastic India. The participant students of the event included children from 2100 K-12 schools, 400 playschools, 10 libraries, 20 NGOs and select coaching centers.

The event consisted of children reading for fun across the country. It was 20 minutes reading session followed by other activities that celebrate reading as a joyful and constructive experience.

The event was attended by famous authors, story writers and people from the field of creative arts like filmmaking. Author and filmmaker Samina Mishra attended the event in Ghaziabad and read the Reading Pledge to 500 children. At the same event, renowned storyteller, Ms. Seema Wahi Mukherjee, conducted a quiz followed by a storytelling session.

In Kolkata, the NGO, Future Hope, and All Women Bengal Council were the host of the state’s leg of the event. The Reading Pledge was read here by writers like Ms. Sampurna Chattarji and Mr. Eurig Salisbury.

In Chennai, over 4000 kids from twenty-five schools participated where the reading pledge was read by all the students followed by storytelling sessions by Ms. Shilpa Krishnan.

Mr. Neeraj Jain, M.D, Scholastic India said that the event was organized for the thirteenth time this year with a commitment to ‘Raising Readers’ in the country.

The ONRT sessions held in the past 12 years have seen the participation of over 4,200 schools and over 6 million students apart from authors including Ruskin Bond, Sudha Murty, Gulzar, Paro Anand etc.