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The
Census of India (1961) indicates the number of illiterates (those who had not
gone to school even for a day) to be 400 million.1 This would be about 65 percent
of the total population of this country. This quantum represents the age group
above 16 or 18 years. Being non-literates their thumb impression is the only means
of expressing their legal personality. They are gullible for all deception by
the middle men, officials and political propagandists, because they have no means
of informing themselves about the facts of the situation. Even ameliorative actions
of governments are very easily misunderstood by them. Every constructive step
is viewed with hostility and consequently an anti-establishment attitude develops
easily among them.
Some of
the illiterates may have extraordinary abilities in man management and creative
thinking. Because of illiteracy, they could not flower or mature fully to serve
the best interests of society and government. Thus their contribution to nation
building remains neglected. Majority of the illiterates are certainly women folk,
who in turn, influence their children in perpetuating prejudices and encourage
the continuity of ill-will against all ameliorative activities of the government.
As the saying goes ' a family of illiterates breeds another generation of illiterates'.
Much more has already been said about the need for educating the common man. A
government which has proclaimed socialism and well being of its people as its
goal has allowed still 65 percent of its population to suffer from illiteracy
even though economic amelioration has been attempted by it in all spheres of life.
Categories
of illiterates
The
need for educating those who have not gone to the school even for a day is too
well known to stress again. A second category of illustrates are those who have
gone to the school for one to two years but have left the school and have forgotten
their abilities. They are also not in any way different from the total illiterates
(the first category) through they may be in a slightly advantageous position in
learning the three Rs. A third category of learners are those who have secured
a certificate (Matriculation for instance ) or a diploma or a B.A/B.Sc. who would
like to further their prospects by acquiring higher degrees. A fourth category
of learners are those who have a specialized knowledge in one area but would desire
to acquire knowledge in other areas also. For the third and fourth categories
of learners some steps have been taken by the autonomous bodies like universities
and institutes by organizing correspondence courses. The open university system
to be implemented in a few universities, the Radio and Television teaching, the
extension lecture schemes have helped them at least to some extent in achieving
this goal of improving their formal education. But these steps have helped only
the advantaged group to become more privileged. The bulk of the population who
are illiterate has not been touched by these facilities. The adult literacy slogan,
' each one teach one ' has remained as a catch word rather than an implementation
programme in all these years. The adult literacy schemes implemented in a few
states have not made much headway and in a few other state where they are implemented
they have suffered due to want of co-ordination and finance. Governments have
not yet declared that literacy is complete in all villages in their State, though
they have declared that all villages are electrified and have taken pride in it.
Only now the Centre has realized this as a national problem and has seriously
contemplated steps to realise this as a national problem and has seriously contemplated
steps to realize literacy in all villages within a reasonable period.
The
Goals of Literacy
The minimum goal of literacy for the first group has to be minimal, say, for instance,
to read in their mothertongue either a news paper or a government notification
and to acquire the necessary elementary skills in writing, learning arithmetic
and sciences required for their daily life, so that they may not be exploited
by vested interests. It is said that the UNESCO2 has fixed the standards of attainment
in functional literacy as the standard attained in formal education of the primary
level after five years of schooling. to achieve this goal, one method will be
to send all illiterates to five years of schooling which will be a financial impossibility
for any government and the learners themselves will find it hard and even repelled
lessons taught in five years to a minimum period, of three to four months to teach
the adults. Some of the adult learners due to advanced age and malnutrition will
be slow in learning in which case it will be expedient to fix a lower goal of
writing and reading in their mothertongue a news item or a story. An upper goal
may be that which has been spelt above, i.e., a condensed primary course with
ancillary subjects like arithmetic and sciences necessary for their livelihood.
The first goal, we hope can be achieved within three to four months through evening
or morning classes
lasting for one to one and a half hours for four days in
a week. Those who are promising and have expressed desire to continue their education
may have an advanced mass literacy programme or an open middle and high school
systems just as the universities are now having, to be attached to the formal
schools wherever they are, with facilities to run
such classes in the evenings.
The programme being important for the country's well being has to be tackled on
a war footing. If it is done over an extended period, it will not evoke enthusiasm
on the part of the learners or with the teachers. It should be a crash programme
with the target to be achieved within a short period of one year by mobilizing
all possible resources men and material.
Contents
of Teaching
It has
already been agreed to and has been expressly stated in the Constitution of this
country for primary education and for mass literacy the language should be the
mothertongue. Apart form the 15 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution,
of which Sanskrit and English have very few people claiming them as their mothertongue,
about 1,051 languages have been classified in the Census of 1971 as mothertongues
for speakers numbering about 15000 and more. Another 601 speech forms have remanded
unclassified till date. Each of the major languages has dialects,
which can
be understood with difficulty even by the other dialect speakers of the same language.
The Harijans as well as other backward communities when they study the standard
dialects in the schools find the study difficult. In some instances it is similar
to the difficulty in learning another language.When corrected they invariably
drop out from the schools3. Besides the economic and social causes, the higher
dropout in the Harijans and other backward communities in the schools is the strangeness
of the standard dialect. This problem of dialects has to be tackled along with
the teaching of several languages which are the mothertongues of millions of illiterates
in this country.
Another
serious problem is that many of the mothertongue do not have script. Scripts havr
to be devised for such languages and a policy is to be formulated for assigning
new scripts. Limited work in assignment of a script for teaching the tribals has
shown that the regional scripts of the state, if used, will enable their integration
effortness rather than using a single script like Roman or Devanagari throughout
the country. If the Maltos-the Dravidian speaking tribe who live in Bihar-need
a script, the regional script Devanagari can be made use of because the regional
script in Bihar is Devanagari. The jenukurubas who live in Karnataka can be assigned
the Kannada script. The Todas of Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu can be assigned the Tamil
script with suitable modifications.
Regarding the dialects, the scripts of the standard language with modifications
can be made use of. This will enable the abult learners to participate in the
constructive activities of the state, because the script being similar they can
read the language of the state with ease.
In these areas the linguists can help in assigning a script for the languages
and the dialects which have no script and in preparing simplified teaching material
for the classes. The tools developed by them may be utilized with advantage for
this purpose.
The
Curricula
Since
the teaching is to be done in the mothertongue, the teachers should be from the
same language area who know the language well. If a new script is to be assigned
to the language or dialect, the teacher should be well informed and trained are
trained in the use of the script. Preliminary work and training are necessary
before launching the programme. The contents of teaching should be initially to
give practice in writing and reading in the script devised or already available
and that the learners may be taught to read and write their names and those of
their kith and kin in the first few days.
Short lessons helpful in teaching the script commonly found in the beginning lessons
of a primary reader should be made use of.
The
second phase of it, i.e., to begin in the second month, should contain slightly
longer lessons of 5-10 sentences of 50-100 words, covering the stories common
in the village and about the heroes and gods familiar to the learners. The Pañchatantra
stories and humorous skirts, letter writing, etc., should be introduced. The lessons
may not exceed
ten in number. Grammar should be of the functional type avoiding
technical terms but full of usages found in the speech of the learners. Side by
side, about 10 exercise on addition and multiplication, small write-ups about
the environments of the learners, their farming, fishing or hunting techniques
should be introduced as lessons. In the third phase
more lessons on the developmental
activities of the governments in the Centre and the state, the cultural, social
and religious life of the learners should be introduced. The problems in arithmetic
which are essential to the daily activities, write-ups on health sciences, knowledge
about diseases and their cures, manuring, prevention of diseases of
crops
and animals, which are vocation oriented should also be introduced. There should
be an informal testing and evaluation by the teacher assessee should visit each
school once in a month. The final evaluation should be done at least partly by
the external assessee with the cooperation of the teacher and the learner. Incentive
for attending the
course should be provided to al the adult learners by paying
a nominal daily allowance and by giving different types of prizes and certificates
for the different grades attained by the learners.
Implementation
Two immediate prerequisites of adult literacy are preparation of teaching material
and training of the teachers. An ideal situation will be to send a small pilot
team to a specific area to survey the dialects or the language and prepare the
teaching material on the basis of material recorded either in the I. P. script
or on tapes. This type of field work
lasting even for a brief period of one
week will be expensive. Instead we suggest that the first portion of the teaching
material shall be alphabet oriented with directions and aids for the teacher and
the learners for writing and reading. For languages having no script, field work
in that language is unavoidable. The teacher may observe during his leisure
hours
the language is unavoidable. The teacher and the learners for writing and reading.
For languages having no script, field work in that language is unavoidable. The
teacher may observe during his leisure hours the language or dialect and fill
in the frames in each sentences with the local dialect or language if independent
field work is not possible.
Thus a strategy for the adult literacy teaching
material has to be framed before launching the scheme. Some of the lessons - formats
like those of arithmetic and sciences may be common throughout India. The vocation
oriented lessons should incorporate the details obtained in the village which
the teacher has to incorporate in the course. Mimeo-graphing facilities should
be made vailable to the teacher to obtain copies of his lessons which may be later
printed when the lessons are tested in one or two courses. Alphabet maps containing
figures and other visual aids which can be commonly used throughout India without
printing the language forms should be prepared and supplied.
Evaluation techniques and the method of participation in the learners society
and religion should be taught to the teachers in a brief intensive course lasting
not more that two weeks before organizing the literacy course. As soon as the
particular course is over, there should be a refresher course to evaluate the
lessons prepared by the teacher and to
take note of the experiences of the
learner as well as the teacher to modify the lessons. This may last for one week.
For a three months - course will be necessary.
Each teacher may handle not more than two classes of 10-15 students each, and
one class may be in the morning and the other in the evening according to the
convenience of the learners. Aids like slate and pencil for each learner, a black
and chalk, petromax light for the night classes, besides the teaching material,
should be supplied to the teacer. For women learners it would be advantageous
to have women teachers. Also it will be productive if the teachers stay in the
villages where they are teaching, throughout the course period, so that they can
observe and participate in the village activities.
How
to train the Teachers and who are to train
A team of linguists, social anthropologists and pedagogues should participate
in the training programme for tree weeks. A common pattern of information may
be given to the teacher-trainees during this period which will necessitate preparation
of a guideline for the teachers of the refresher course. A broad outline for preparing
the course material should be given by these teachers in the refresher course.
Administration
Administrative arrangement and control should be indirect, but at the same time
be strict. The teacher-trainee should have the power to spend the money required
for the conduct of the class for which he should not depend on the sanction of
his immediate supervisors. For every 20 teachers there should be one assistant
co-ordinator who will visit the classes at least once in a month and participate
in the classes with the concurrence and co-operation of the teacher. He may also
evaluate the examination work in the course, as an external expert. A group of
twenty Assistant Coordinators should be controlled by a Deputy Coordinator. He
may seek reports on the observations made by the Assistant Coordinators on the
work done in various camps and on the progress in the preparation of the teaching
material. The collection of the economic, cultural and religious details, etc.,
may be supervised by him. He may also establish contacts with district and panchayat
officials for cooperation and in mobilizing support for the programme. Broadly,
each district may have a deputy Coordinator and about 40 Assistant coordinators.
800 teachers in a district can train 8000 to 12000 learners or if each teacher
engages two classes, they can train 16000 - 24000 adult learners, within three
months. Each state may have a Coordinator with one or two Joint Cordinators who
will help him in running the programme, by providing men and material, arranging
for the programme of training for the training, secure the necessary finances
from the various bodies and keep the programme running according to schedule.
Trained personnel in adult literacy who have a dedicated record of work may be
appointed as coordinators in each state, because he will be the king Pin responsible
for the running of the campaign in the entire state (he may be from the adult
literacy Council or from the education record of literacy work). The joint coordinators
may be men, whose services may be loaned by the government, will be responsible
for the finances and related routine matters. The Deputy Coordnators may be drawn
from the universities. The teachers may be from the primary schools or the educated
unemployed personnel available in the country and the students in the various
colleges who undertake the work either during the holidays or as part of their
course work which has to be built into the curricula. At the Centre a Central
Coordinator will frame the policies, make available the finances and execute the
programmes through the state and voluntary organizations. He may be an educational
administrator of repute with proven abilty for coordination and execution of such
projects.
Financial
Implication
The
second author of this note has experiences in executing a project of adult litercy
in a village in Karnataka.
The following figures are based on his observations and experience for adult literacy
class of 10 and probable expenditure will be
1. @ Rs. 30 p.m. as incentive to one adult learner for 10 adults
for 3 months
30*10*3 = Rs. 900/-
2. @ Rs. 100/- p. m. remuneration to one
teacher for 10 students Rs. 100*3
=Rs. 300/-
3. Purchase
of books, slate, pencils for
3 months =Rs. 100/-
4. Black board, class room, kerosene for
petromax lamp, etc., for 3 months
=Rs. 100/-
5. Propaganda,
organization, etc., for
each course = rs. 140/-
Total for a group of ten students will be Rs. 1, 540/- for three months rounding
off it is Rs. 1,600/-. If the group is increased to 15, the expenditure on the
teacher will remain constant. The incentive, etc., for 5 more adult learners when
added will come to about Rs. 2,350/-
For the estimated figure of 40 crores of illiterates to be taught, the expenditure
will be Rs. 600/- Crores. It is suggested that the financial burden be shared
between the Centre and the states in the proportion of 2/3 by the Centre and 1/3
by the state. This will work out to be Rs. 400 Crores by the Centre and Rs. 200
Crores by the state. Approximately the Centre and the states spend Rs. 2500 Crores
per year on education. The proposed increases will be less than 25 percent of
this expenditure. Wherever possible, the service of the personnel may be secured
on deputation from the parent organizations and the pay to be drawn from the organization
and the government or the Adult Literacy Boards may give an honorarium for such
personnel.
Byproducts
of this Scheme
Besides
attaining cent per cent literacy within a year, if the project is executed with
earnestness on a war footing, the teachers in each village can furnish details
about language, culture and society, economic and population census and the reaction
of the folks to the developmental activities of the government by filling in suitable
questionnaires sent to them. Such details can be secured at a very nominal expenditure.
They will be an asset to the academic world in well as to the government.
Essential
propaganda for literacy
Finally the tradition bound villager will have suspicious about any activity which
is compulsive though beneficial to him. For this we suggest that before starting
the campaign, the villagers may be approached through the mass media and films
depicting the miseries of the illiterates, the opportunities of growth for the
well educated, the economic upliftment of the educated villagers, the deception
wrought on an ill - educated villager by the middlemen, the importance of education
for the children, the improvement in the home life, etc., may be shown through
silent movies annotated in the local language by the speakers in almost all the
villages throughout the country. A favorable climate should be created before
launching on the adult literacy programmes. More than the monetary incentives
this attitudinal change will create the necessary motivation for the learning
of the three Rs.
A typical
village camp may be organized in the following manner : First Phase : 2-3 days
projecting publicity movies and canvassing among headmen of the villages for literacy
may be undertaken : As a result, the villages may invite the teachers to teach
the three Rs. Second Phase : the teacher goes to the village for a couple of days,
locates a place, befriends the villagers, notes the language or dialect differences
and inaugurates the class with a local celebrity. He may begin the class with
the limited initial aim of writing the names of the villagers which will create
an interest in writing. Occasionally he may tell stories in the class about opportunities
of coming up when one can read and write and the better life for their children.
Thrid
Phase : within a day or two, he has to introduce the general writing system and
introduce the lessons for which he has already the frames supplied to him and
watch the reaction of the learners. Fourth Phase : to evaluate with the aid of
the Assistant Coordinator and others. The initial success insecuring the co-operation
of the villagers in organizing the class and carrying on the teaching and evaluation
will ensure the success of the programme.
Foot
Notes
1 and 2 are
from a conversation with Dr. D. P. Pattanayak, Director, C. I. I. L. The
figures
of the Census are approximate and need verification.
3.
V. I. Subramonium
' Problems in Teaching Tribals ' Seminar on the Education,
Culture and Development of the Tribals, Calicut, August ' 76 (Mimeographed)