Organization background
Samskrita Bharati (SB) is an Indian organization created with the goal of preserving and nurturing the Sanskrit language, in which a number of ancient Indian texts are written. For the last 30 years SB has been teaching and promoting Samskritam in India, USA, Canada and a number countries in Europe, Asia as well as in Australia. SB USA is a non-profit organization in the USA established with the sole objective of teaching and spreading Saṃskṛtam language in the USA among Indo-Americans, especially children, to help continue the cultural links with the country of their origin India. SB USA conducts classes directly face-to-face and through " Distance Learning " methods. It conducts numerous workshops and camps for children, adolescents and adults. SB USA also has established and successfully running the 3-year Samskritam as Foreign Language (SAFL) for high School students.

Project background
The SAFL program sarted in 2009 with 17 students. The idea was to teach saṃskṛtam in the medium of saṃskṛtam for 8-12 graders online. It is a three year online distance education program. At present, the prgram is in its fifth year and there are 85 students, and 3 classes have graduated so far. The classes are conducted on Sat/Sun/Mondays over the web using WebEx video conferencing, and it runs through the school year from Sep to May. SB has also started preliminary work accreditation for the program.

Around 2 years ago, SB strated creating special text books and workbooks ( for all the three years)  for SAFL students (similar to texts for other languages such as Spanish/French/German). The first year's book called "Mukulam" has been published (written by SAFL teachers with guidance and help from others). Currently the workbook (to go with this textbook)  is being finalized. Preliminary work has also been started on the second year textbook, "Kusumam", and once this is completed, SB will start preparing the text book for the third year students, "Saurabham".

Project description
GKF will pick up the cost of producing the second textbook, "Kusumam".

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