Dr. S. Lal Mattu grew up in humble circumstances in the Kenyan Rift Valley. His father- Mangta Ram Mattu- had a dream that one day, one of his children would be educated. He remembers his illiterate father telling him:

without education you have eyes but you cannot see,

without education you have ears but you cannot hear,

without education you have hands but they cannot work.

Dr. S. Lal Mattu, the fifth child, was the first in whom Mangta Ram Mattu was able to see his dream come true.

Dr. S. Lal Mattu's dream for the students of The Third Academy is the same as his father realised for him: "The Gift of Literacy."