New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS): Employees of Oxford University Press (OUP) one of the world's largest publishers of academic books, went back into time on Thursday as they engaging sessions on themes such as photography, dance, drama, sports and music at charity-run schools in four cities across the country on the occasion of Teacher's Day.

"We are extremely proud of the Indian teaching community for their strong contribution to learning and education. We owe it to them for playing a pivotal role in making India a Knowledge Powerhouse for the world, and I am delighted that OUP employees decided on this unique way to pay them the respect that they truly deserve," Sivaramakrishnan Venkateswaran, Managing Director, Oxford University Press India said.

OUP said the initiative was conducted across New Delhi, Gurugram, Chennai and Kolkata in keeping with its organisational mission: to support the University of Oxford's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. At OUP, the attempt is to make a difference to people's lives by promoting literacy, learning, and great teaching, said a statement.

"OUP supports the charities with book donations, teacher training, infrastructure support for learning and vocational training. In the last three years, OUP has donated nearly 4 lakh units of books to Literacy India. More recently, on the occasion of the World Art Day on April 5, 22 employees from OUP India's Noida office got together with children to paint a school run out of a slum area in Gurugram. The wall art was based on important issues such as environment conservation, girl child literacy and importance of hygiene among others," a statement said.