About India Literacy Project
A catalyst for a 100% educated India
Enabling children in government schools to attain grade-appropriate skills and create pathways to productive careers – from classroom to career.
Our founding story
“If we don’t do anything, by year 2000, every second illiterate in the world will be an Indian.”
– Dr. Parameshwara Rao, 1989
India Literacy Project (ILP) was founded in 1990 in the United States by a group of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) inspired by the vision of Dr. Parameshwara Rao. A scientist trained in the U.S., Dr. Rao returned to India in 1967 with a mission to improve the lives of rural communities in and around the Visakhapatnam district.
Through his work, he realized that literacy was the foundation for lasting social and economic progress. Without basic literacy, people were unable to fully benefit from knowledge, opportunities, and development initiatives. At a time when India’s literacy rate was just 36% (1981 Census), he became a passionate advocate for educational change.
Dr. Rao traveled across the United States, inspiring Indians abroad to contribute to improving literacy in India. His efforts brought together a group of committed NRIs who shared his vision and established India Literacy Project—an organization dedicated to expanding educational opportunities and improving learning outcomes for children across India.
Our Mission
To be a catalyst for a 100% educated India by enabling children in government schools to attain grade-appropriate skills and create pathways to productive careers.
We focus on the three stages of high-quality education:
How we work
ILP has chapters across the US and India. We don’t run schools – we partner with local NGOs, government education departments, and CSR foundations to strengthen the government school system from inside. Our role is to design interventions, train teachers, provide tools, and build the capacity of our partners to sustain programs independently.
- Work with rural communities and government schools in India to enroll, retain and ensure children attain grade appropriate skills.
- Partner with local NGOs and create sustained community engagement and ownership around government schools and children’s education.
- Design and deploy high quality, low cost, replicable interventions to improve student learning outcomes which are eventually owned by the government stakeholders.
Board of Trustees, ILP India
Manmohan JainChairperson Pramod SridharamurthySecretary Sashikumar NagarajanTrustee Charu PuriTrustee Pratima JagadeeshTrustee Ambalavanan R.Trustee H.S. SudhiraTrustee Suchitra RaoAdvisor to BoardBoard of Directors, ILP US
Venki VenkateshCo-Founder Sandeep ShroffCFO Rajkishore GovinduNational Convenor Divya ChannappaCA Chapter Coordinator Uma VenkateshFinance Coordinator Aravindan S.Projects Coordinator Padmaja S.Operations CoordinatorThe program management team in India is responsible for the execution, management, and monitoring of all projects across the country. ILP has offices in Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
A.L. RangarajanCountry Manager Ravi ManiProgram Director Victor TauroProgram Director Harish KumarProgram Manager, MDLS Ramesh DonthaChapter Head, HyderabadOur partners
ILP works through partnerships – with local NGOs who implement programmes on the ground, corporations who fund and support initiatives through CSR, and government departments who help scale proven models into policy.
Financials & transparency
ILP is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability, with annual reports and audited financial statements publicly available for review.