Room to Read India Launches Sixth Edition of its Flagship Girls’ Education Campaign — Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang focusing on Financial Literacy as a Pathway to Gender Equality

New Delhi, November 12, 2025: Room to Read India, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting literacy and gender equality in education, through a national seminar announced the launch of the sixth edition of its flagship Girls’ Education Campaign, Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang — a nationwide initiative advancing girls’ education and empowerment through deeper community engagement. This year’s campaign “#HarKadamBetiKeSang – Financial Literacy Ki Aur Badhe Hum”, spotlights financial literacy as a life skill essential for achieving gender equality and lifelong success for adolescents. It aims to break gendered taboos around money and enable adolescents—especially girls—to make informed financial choices, negotiate for education, resist early marriage, and envision independent futures by fostering open conversations about money at home, in schools, and within communities.

This year’s campaign is a collective call to action for families, educators, policymakers, and communities to nurture financial confidence among adolescents. It simplifies financial literacy through relatable concepts such as budgeting, saving, goal setting, distinguishing needs from wants, and understanding credit and investments—while normalizing girls’ participation in financial decision-making and household planning. The campaign aims to foster the ability to make independent financial choices and challenge gendered stereotypes around money.

The week-long initiative will also feature conversations with adolescents, practitioners, and thought leaders on how financial literacy shape’s identity, decision-making, and empowerment. The campaign will be implemented in collaboration with state departments of Education, Women and Child Development, Tribal Welfare, District Gender Cells, and SCERTs, ensuring that financial literacy becomes an integral part of school curricula and community learning. It will also engage donors, educators, and policymakers to build scalable, replicable models of gender-responsive financial literacy.

Speaking about the initiative, Poornima Garg, Country Director, Room to Read India, said:
“Financial literacy gives girls more than economic skills—it gives them agency. Research shows that only 16.7% of Indian adolescents (ages 11–17) can correctly answer basic financial questions, and fewer than 20% of adolescent girls have ever made a personal purchase without seeking permission. These figures reflect not just gaps in knowledge, but lost opportunities for confidence and decision-making. When girls understand money, they understand their worth, their choices, and their power to shape the future. Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang is our call to make that empowerment universal. Aligned with the National Education Policy 2020, Sustainable Development Goal 5, and the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, this campaign integrates gender-responsive financial literacy into life skills education—so that both girls and boys grow up with the confidence, autonomy, and critical thinking needed to build a more equitable and resilient society.”

Since its inception in 2005, Room to Read India’s Girls’ Education Program has supported over 396,050 girls, achieving a 98% advancement rate. Moreover, 80% of its alumnae have gone on to complete tertiary education across Chhattisgarh, Delhi NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Each edition of Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang has brought critical adolescent issues—such as digital inclusion, safety, and mental well-being—to the forefront, amplifying girls’ voices and mobilizing communities for systemic change.

The National Seminar featured “My Financial Journey”, where adolescents shared powerful stories of inclusion and exclusion, offering a candid glimpse into how financial access shapes their lives. A panel discussion on “Breaking Gender Barriers — Whose Space is Finance?” brought together voices from academia, policy, and practice to challenge norms that confine women to saving roles while associating risk-taking and investment with men. The seminar concluded with “Commitments for the Future”, reflecting on how financial literacy can be reimagined not as a technical skill, but as a pathway to power, agency, and equality.

Through Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang 2025, Room to Read India reaffirms its commitment to nurturing a generation of girls who are not only educated but financially empowered to lead change for themselves and their communities.