History
In 1999, Sa Aklat Sisikat was launched as a literacy campaign in the City of Manila, Philippines. Its objective was to promote the love and habit of reading amongst public school children through various reading-related activities. These included eye examinations for Grade 1 public school students; installation of Literary Landmarks in the City of Manila; upgrading of public libraries; public storytelling series and two habit-forming reading activities, known as Battle of the Books and Read-a-Thon in cooperation with the Department of Education.

Encouraged by the success of the pilot project, Sa Aklat Sisikat was established as an independent foundation on January 2001, in partnership with Petron Foundation.

Understanding the urgent need to promote the reading habit, Sa Aklat Sisikat has since chosen to concentrate on habit-forming reading activities by organizing Read-a-Thons throughout the public educational school system of the Philippines. SAS recognizes these reading marathons as the most effective method for promoting the reading habit amongst Grade 4 public school children.

OVER-ALL FAST FACTS SUMMARY
Indicators	1999	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	TOTAL
No. of Public Schools Benefited	28	48	110	123	143	133	585
No. of Grade 4 Students Directly Benefited	21,000	9,700	28,818	13,312	19,822	30,581	123,233
No. of Principals & Grade 4 Teachers Directly Benefited	455	242	691	440	554	736	3,118
No. of Books Distributed	13,780	8,280	36,251	20,560	19,560	38,369	136,800
No. of Elementary Students Indirectly Benefited	105,000	48,500	144,090	67,765	99,112	155,145	619,612
No. of Elementary Teachers Indirectly Benefited	2,135	970	2,823	3,407	2,198	2,844	14,377
No. of LGUs Impacted	1	2	27	22	26	45	123
No. of DepEd Superintendents & Supervisors Impacted	5	9	120	76	83	91	384
No. of Parents Impacted	42,000	19,400	57,636	26,624	39,644	61,162	246,466
No. of READiscovery Centers Established	0	0	4	0	0	0	4
No. of Mini-libraries Distributed*	0	48	108	123	150	137	566

*Mini-libraries include Reading Carts, Reading Corners, Book Shelves and Book Boxes.
*Data is as of November 2006 when the last program was launched.