Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 1 - World Association of ...

The Telegraph in SchoolsCalcutta, India ◦ Circulation : 24,000The Telegraph in Schools was officially launched on July 19, 2003. The period of implementation couldbe taken as July 31, 2003 to June 30, 2004THE IDEAThe Telegraph In Schools – A common platform. A common goal.A head start for growing mindsTTIS movement provides a forum for all schools irrespective of the medium of instruction and thebackground of the children. Students and teachers of 278 schools from in and around the city ofCalcutta come together, voicing their views and listening to the views of others.WHY TTIS?The Telegraph is one of India’s most admired, modern newspapers. Published from Calcutta, it is the first andonly English daily in the mix of publications offered by the house of Ananda Bazar Patrika Private Limited. But,the reading habit of young people was slowly but surely slackening and despite focused supplements a ‘connect’was still amiss.These concerns led to the launch of The Telegraph in Schools in 2003. TTIS was developed as a strategy toconnect with young readers. It aims mainly at children and young adolescents and makes great use of theschool environment. Schools offer two advantages: qualified people to help children to become readers and anideal springboard to grow circulation by subscription.Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 1

But successfully penetrating a school requires a product that is adapted and of high quality. Thus TheTelegraph created the newspaper The Telegraph In Schools really suited to the needs of the children. Youngreaders are encouraged to participate in producing the publication e.g. By becoming a reporter ie.cubs andtigers, by reviewing films and music, or simply by comparing their ideas to other readers of the same age group.The publication is sent to 278 schools and their libraries. The paper is available through trade..WHAT IS IT?TTIS is a weekly stand alone product hitting the stands every Monday. A 16 page all color newspapermeant for 10 – 18 year olds. The TTIS reaches 17000 copies to 278 schools every Friday preceding theissue day and 7000 homes by post or trade/stand sales.TTIS is a paper for students and put together by students. Almost all the articles and contributions arefrom students. Tiger and cub reporters write about their schools, the communities they live in, report oncity happenings and interview celebrities. There are 600 tiger reporters (age 14 -18) and cub reporters(age 10 – 14) that are the driving force behind this product.Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 2

TTIS Tiger and Cub Reporter meeting. Every first Sunday of the month sees a gathering of 600 studentreporters meet with their news and views at 2 separate school venuesA recipient of Telegraph School Award for Courage, Temba Sherpa, addressing aTTIS student reporters meet at St James’ SchoolTTIS inculcates a good reading and writing habit. In an agedominated by television, it is imperative that we get our children toread. In an age in which English is the accepted global language,our children need to read, write and speak in English in addition totheir mother tongue. TTIS encourages students from classes 5 to 12to do just that. It is a serious paper packaged with color and fun.TTIS is used in classroom teaching as a ready-reckoner, forquizzing, for comprehension and for helping improve pupils' English.TTIS also adds value to the syllabus and curriculum. The StudyHelpline page carries a 'mock paper' on different subjects from allthree Boards. Teacher’s tips on how to tackle the exams, study theirsubject etc. are also published on this page.Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 3

TTIS runs a set of clubs or personality development centers free of cost for its subscriber students. TTISsubscribers are encouraged to join one or more of the following clubs:· TTIS Better English Club· TTIS Quiz Club· TTIS Public Speaking and Drama ClubThese clubs are run by committees comprising teachers, students and experts in the field. Workshopsand events are organized regularly so that members can hone their skills, develop organizational abilitiesand grow their confidence.WORKSHOPS HELD BETWEEN JULY 19, 2003 TO JUNE 30, 2004:TYPE OF WORKSHOPS NUMBER OF WORKSHOPS NUMBER OF SCHOOLS/ SCHOOLTeacher Training Workshops 1 5Public Speaking Workshops 1 3Quiz Workshops 1 16-do- 2 35-do- 3 or more 5Better English Workshops 1 12-do- 2 8Various club activities and workshops organized by TTIS in schoolsAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 4

TTIS EVENTSTTIS organizes activities for schools, students, education fraternity and parents. All the activities TTISorganized are related in some manner to the basic precepts of literacy, democracy, peace, human rightsand citizenship. They are:July, 2003 TTIS LAUNCH Involved 250 heads of different institutionsPrincipals and Heads of Institutions at the TTIS launchAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 5

September, 2003THE TELEGRAPH SCHOOL Honored schools and students who have excelledAWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE in academics, sports, social service projectsDr Manmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister of India, at The Telegraph SchoolAward function, 2003A recipient of an award at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence, 2003Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 6

September, 2003PEACEWARDSAn anti-violence, pro-peaceproduction bringing togethertwo art forms- monologueand live rock musicNovember, 2003EKTA MAILA fest where we partneredthe ‘differently able’ studentsof the Indian Institute ofCerebral PalsyApril, 2004CARNIVAL FOR EDUCATIONA fair the proceeds of whichwere used for the educationof needy studentsJuly, 2004JUNGLE BOOKA musical in associationwith the Animal Reliefand Care SocietyA scene from Jungle Book – A musical produced in collaboration withAnimal Relief and Care SocietyAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 7

January, 2004BONDING BEYONG BARRIERSPeace mission by students from India toPakistan led by a teacher who had lost her onlyson, an Indian Army officer, to a Pakistanibullet a year ago. The mission wassubsequently felicitated by the Governor of thestate.HISTORY WAS CREATED WHEN…33 student and 12 teachers from Indiawere taken across the Wagah border on foot by TTIS to participate in theInternational School Olympiad at Karachi, PakistanStudent delegates from India on the stage welcomed by hostsfrom the Pakistani schoolAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 8

WHAT’S SO UNIQUE ABOUT THE PRODUCTTTIS is used in classroom teaching as a ready-reckoner, for quizzing, for comprehension andfor helping improve pupils' English.TTIS also adds value to the syllabus. The Study Helpline page carries a 'mock paper' ondifferent subjects from all three Boards. Teacher’s tips on how to tackle the exams, study theirsubject etc. are also published on this page.BIG QUESTION – Issue baseddebate between Student,Teacher and ParentTIGER OF THE WEEK – Star eporterTREASURE CHEST & FOUR CORNERS –Information capsulesSCHOOL OF THE WEEKJUNIOR TTIS – Crossword, Jumbles,Contests and Craft CornerHOW TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISHCELEBRITY POSTERNEWS HEADLINES OF THEPREVIOUS WEEKTHE PRODUCTAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 9

TTIS CLASS ACT: Passing the GradeSo other than for bringing together schools and spawning an overwhelming student following, hasTTIS achieved the objective it had set out to attain?Has the newspaper reading habit, developed in students by TTIS, translated into greater studentreadership for mainstream, generic newspapers? In the absence of research data to this end, adefinitive ‘yes-no’ answer is not available. However, an exercise that TTIS conducted mightprovide a clue as to where these young readers are likely to go once they move out from school.A farewell party, organized along the lines of a high school prom, was thrown for the passing outbatch of 2004. A total of 114 TTIS subscribers who have just completed their 12 th grade and areabout to enroll in under graduate colleges were invited to attend the bash. Dubbed ‘The TTISComing of Age’ party, the event generated a lot of interest among the age group it was intendedfor.Images from the Class of 2004 Graduation PartyAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 10

Also through a publicity blitz (including teaser ads carried in the mother-paper The Telegraph) theparty quickly attained the see/be seen stature of every fashionable do. In the course of the party,all attendees were personally called up on stage and given away a TTIS Black Box full ofgoodies. Among other things a free trial subscription offer to The Telegraph was enclosed. Theidea was to time the graduation of kids from school to college with a similar upgrade in theirreading habits – thus, the play around the concept of coming of age, and developing more‘grown-up’ choices.HOW?To go back to the question we posed ourselves – how did this project see the light of the day? InJuly 2003 heads of 250 schools in and around Calcutta were apprised of the spirit of TTIS inorder to ensure a high level of commitment and participation. The manager and the team movedfrom school to school presenting the vision of TTIS, the relevance of reading, English and the partplayed by newspapers in a student’s curriculum.All of this was undertaken to demonstrate the effectiveness of newspapers in education. Schoolswere guaranteed incentives for agreeing to welcome TTIS into their premises – help indeveloping the syllabus and other curriculum-oriented activities.Assembly presentations and class visits were undertaken. The objective was to highlight therelevance of reading, English and newspaper in a students’ curriculum. The staff wanted todemonstrate the effectiveness of newspapers within education.The marketing strategy was to develop a novel and attractive schools project – with theguaranteed incentive to all participating schools of greater school, syllabus and curriculumoriented activities –that would depend on number of subscribers of TTIS from the school.Funding came in from the mother brand The Telegraph while the financials of TTIS subscriptionwas worked out thus:Annual : Rs 185 (with Rs 20 as charity contribution)Half-yearly : Rs 95 (with Rs 10 as charity contribution)Quarterly : Rs 50 (with Rs 5 as charity contribution)Each issue is priced at Rs 5 for readers picking copies off the standsAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 11

TTIS Subscription FormWHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED ?o Project introduced in 278 schoolso Average 800 students per schoolo Estimated total audience of 2,22,400 studentsAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 12

ResultsAlthough standard industry circulation audits and readership surveys have not measured thereach and spread of the product, we do know certain key figures:TTIS goes out to English as well as vernacular medium schools in Kolkata Metropolis – an areaof approximately 187 sq kms. 17000 subscribers and 7000 direct buys (from the trade) havedelivered a circulation of 24000 and an estimated total audience of 2,22,400 students (source:internal MIS). The figures are indicative of mind-boggling possibilities as we have reached only3%of our targettable universe so far. However not to take away from our achievement from nilcirculation on 19 th July 2003, TTIS has grown manifold to its exact figure of 24,470 on 21 st Feb2004.A sense of belongingIn addition to fostering a (literally) back-to-school approach for engaging young readers, TTIS hashooked a robust and growing pool of talented young people. Kids who land up faster thanseasoned reporters in order to take interviews of elusive celebs… kids who spend hoursresearching reports, sometimes at the cost of their school homework!A letter from an enthusiastic student reader.Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 13

Our 600 Tigers (aged 14-18 years) and Cubs (aged 10-14 years) wear their reporters’ badgeswith pride and swear by the hands-on training they receive while filing stories for TTIS. Over andabove the honor of belonging to an exclusive, members’ only club, the Tigers and Cubs alsoserve as the very real faces of the enterprising and achieving spirit TTIS seeks to inculcate in itssubscribers. Also, being highly motivated self-starters they are excellent brand ambassadors withpromising futures ahead – perhaps in print journalism!Hence in a way TTIS has not just encouraged newspaper reading, or promoted the idea of‘newspaper in education’ per se. TTIS has played a much bigger role. Of being a newspaper invocation – one that trains kids to pick up skills of the journalistic craft and make a possible careerout of it. Some Tigers and Cubs stand by the sound CV value of ‘reporting for TTIS’ in the ‘extracurricular’section of resumes!Dear TTIS,It’s been a highly enriching experience for me to be involved with this paper sinceClass IX, & then becoming a reporter. It feels great knowing that a lot of others willcome to know completely new type of paper, & hopefully, some day, others outsideKolkata will be involved in this paper.If one were to ask me what I feel towards TTIS, then I’ll say that this has been thepaper which has channelised my line of work. In contributing articles, reports, etc., myskills have improved. Now in school, students often come to me to edit their articles &stories. In working at cover stories, I have kept myself engaged in a sort of activity –going to places, collecting data, or even interviewing others for their views regarding aburning question. I have gained confidence through this.To end I’ll just say ‘ Congrats!’ However there’s one regret – the inadvertent errors aretoo much in number. This should be checked.Nilanko Mallik XIIB.D. MEMORIAL INSTITUTETTIS TIGER REPORTERYahoo! India Careers : Over 50,000 jobs online .Authored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 14

Mr Basudev BhattacharyaPrincipalHaryana Vidya Mandir806 TTIS subscribersAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 15

Ms Susmita BanerjeePrincipalRishra Vani Bharti610 TTIS subscribersAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 16

THE WAY FORWARDThe goal is to establish TTIS as the only choice of students’ newspaper in English in theEast• Attain volume and mind leadership• Attain a circulation of 50,000 by end of next year• Enhance product by building in relevant and innovative valueadditionThe strategy is to reinforce the TTIS movement by high brand recall activities andcommunication along with geographical expansionUsing the power of identity• Cult products for merchandising• TTIS series of books• Events with top of the mind recallLeverage of TTIS through the Telegraph• Promote TT subscription through TTIS readers• Offer TTIS as gifts along with TT subscription offer and JointSubscription offerGeographical Expansion• To North Bengal and Jharkhand• Special edition for the North EastAIM IS TO ESTABLISH TTIS NOT AS A NEWSPAPERBUT AS A MOVEMENT – A CULTFor Further Details contactMs Rupamala SinghBusiness Manager : TTISABP Private Limited6 Prafulla Sarkar StreetCalcutta -700001Phone - 91-33-2260 0258 / 91-33-22374880Fax- 91-33-22258112Mobile - 91-9830282221Email- rupamala@abpmail.comAuthored by: Ms Rupamala Singh Page No. 17