Door Step School is an NGO that sets up camps in and around the residence of the underprivileged section of the society, and runs literacy programmes.

In India, when it comes to signing on official documents, the thumb impression is a common alternative exercised by illiterate adults.Using design, we turned the symbol of illiteracy into a tool to write.A transparent sheet with cut-outs of the alphabets of Hindi (devanagari script) was placed on top of a regular ink pad. This allowed individuals to print their name, using the familiar thumb impression. The joy of being able to write evoked a spirit to join our programme and learn.

As expected, the ink pad helped our volunteers to grab the attention of the otherwise uninterested target group of illiterate adults and helped us convert their unwillingness to learn into a desire to learn.

With just 8 local volunteers, Door Step School saw a huge 600% increase in the recruitment for the 2011 adult literacy programme. The success of the campaign has encouraged the NGO to carry on the activity in other cities and set up more camps for their 2012 programme.