The Pratham Boston Gala, held on Friday, September 25th, 2015 at the Taj Boston, was a celebration on multiple dimensions. It was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Pratham, one of the largest NGO's dedicated to children's literacy and ensuring children are in school and learning. It was also a celebration for every person who was there - a celebration of the education that brought them to the table and empowered them to give a gift of education to millions of children in India.

The evening was kicked off by the emcee, former Miss America, Nina Davuluri, who shared her own experience of how "education is why I am, where I am today." She highlighted how now everyone had the opportunity to transform the lives of children in India.

As the new head of the Boston Chapter, Pratima Abichandani, vividly described- with every child we touched with education, we were "creating ripples that would change the tide." And Pratham is truly pioneering the way to change the tide as an innovative leader. 

Dinyar Devitre, Chairman of Pratham USA, shared Pratham's own journey of innovation, from the chalk and slate to computer to now tablet. Over 20 years, Pratham has partnered with the leading innovators in the world, including Google for the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) to working with former Infosys CEO, Nandan Nilekani's EkStep to deliver edutech solutions. Pratham has also innovated in their processes - partnering with government schools instead of building from scratch and organizing students by ability instead of grade. Through these techniques, Pratham's learning camps have improved math and reading skills by 50-80% in a few weeks! 

The keynote speaker of the evening, Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Pratham Education Foundation and Piramal Group, further described Pratham's innovations that has allowed them to reach 40 million children across India. Where most NGOs would stop with getting children to school, that is where Pratham started. By starting the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), Pratham tracked learning outcomes to make sure children were actually learning. The power of this methodology has now spread beyond India, improving learning for children from Bangladesh to Kenya. 

Inspired by the work of Pratham, an audience of over 225 people committed their support through the pledge drive- where every child reached, was a dream ignited. 

As a fitting conclusion, singer Vasudha Sharma started the musical celebrations with some lilting melodies and later was joined by DJ Yogi as the crowd moved to the dance floor. 

The Pratham Boston gala was truly a celebration of education and innovation over 20 years. Join the journey by visiting www.prathamusa.org.