NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND ADULT LITERACY
The problems of non-formal education and adult literacy have continued to receive high priority during the year. The Conference of Education Secretaries held in July, 1976 discussed at length the concept and programmes of non-formal education and suggested strategies for their future development. The CABE Committee on Non- formal Education and the Standing Committee of CABE, which also met in July, 1976, discussed further the issue raised in the Education Secretaries Conference and made important recommendations. Along with selective programmes of non-formal education, emphasis was given to mass programmes of adult literacy through a larger involvement of students under NSS, and of teachers.
The Directorate of Non-formal (Adult) Education.-To provide technical support for the programmes of adult education, particularly to the State Governments and voluntary organisations, the Directorate of Non-formal (Adult) Education was established in 1971 by taking out the Department of Adult Education from the NCERT. Since then the Directorate has grown considerably in size and coverage and has expanded its activities to cover many aspects of adult education/literacy which were hitherto unexplored. It is now functioning as a national resource centre in the field of non-formal education and is providing useful assistance in planning programmes, training, preparation of teaching/ teaming materials, and evaluation and monitoring. Among the activities of the Directorate the following deserve special mention :
(1) The Directorate helped the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamilnadu in organising training courses for their non-formal education workers at different levels.
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(2) It prepared curricular guidelines for non- formal education programmes. The emphasis in these guidelines is on developing. methodology of curriculum preparation and promoting efforts in, developing diversified and need-based curricula with an inter-disciplinary approach.
(3) It undertook a project to compile information in respect of various non-formal education activities organised by various Ministries/Departments of the Government of India under their programmes. This is being brought out in the form of a compendium that will help in co- ordinating the efforts in this field.
(4) It brought out 34 publications on various topics relating to non-formal education under its normal publications programme. These publications helped in disseminating useful information and providing academic help in implementing the programmes.
(5) It processed and supplied learning materials worth Rs. 4 lakh to various adult literacy programmes run by NSS, Nehru Yuvak Kendras and other organisations.
(6) It provided professional guidance in planning and implementing the urban adult education programmes run by Shramik Vidyapeeths and Workers Social Education Institutes.
(7) It continued and strengthened its documentation service under which bibliographies, abstracts, etc. were issued. The service has been extended to cover over 300 information cells for non-formal education located with different agencies all over the country. In addition, the service has also been extended to about 80 other national and international agencies identified as resource centres for non-formal education programmes.
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(8) It continued to function as an associate centre for the UNESCO's Asian Programme of Educational Innovations and Development.
In recognition of its contribution in the field of adult literacy' the Directorate was awarded an Honourable Mention of the Nadezhda K. Krupskaya Prize for 1976 by UNESCO.
Non-formal Education Programme for Youth in 15-25 Age. group.- Youth in 15-25 age-group constitute the most vital segment of the country's human resources. Since a majority of them are still illiterate or semi-literate, a comprehensive scheme of providing them non-formal education facilities was launched in 1975-76. The scheme which was expanded in its coverage and scope during the year, aims at providing functional literacy and non-formal education in the following areas :
(i) Society and environment-position of the individuals, their civic orientation and their rights and duties;
(ii) Employment and vocational development;
(iii) Food production, distribution and nutrition;
(iv) Health, hygiene and family welfare planning; and
(v) Home and family life.
The programme is being implemented on a sharing basis by the Central and State Governments. The Central Government financed the programme in 25 districts in 1975-76 and extended it to 50 districts during 1976-77, each district having 100 centres with an approximate enrolment of 30 in each centre. The programmes of the States covered about 100 districts. About 3 lakh youth have benefited from the programme during the year.
To provide academic support, to non-formal education programmes in the fields of training, material production, evaluation, etc., it is proposed to set up State Resources Centres in each State.
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Three such centres, in Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have already come into being and the Government of India have extended financial assistance to them.
Farmers' Functional Literacy Project : This project is a part of the integrated programme of Farmers Training and Functional Literacy being implemented jointly by the three Central Ministries, namely, the Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture & Irrigation and the Ministry of Information. & Broadcasting. The Ministry of Education and Social Welfare is responsible for the functional literacy component of the programme. The scheme had so far been confined to districts covered under high-yielding variety crop areas and covered 123 districts till 1975-76. During 1976-77, its coverage was extended to additional 21 districts. In each district the project is operated through 60 centres and each centre has an enrolment of about 30. The project covered about 2.5 lakh farmers during the year.
The scheme having demonstrated the benefits of an integrated approach to rural development, was diversified in its scope to provide linkages with other developmental programmes. In 1975-76 it was extended to cover one district under SFDA (Small Farmers' Development Agency) and during 1976-77 it was extended to cover one district under the drought prone areas programme and five districts under the integrated tribal development projects.
In operation for about a decade now, it has a fairly wide coverage. To evaluate the scheme and to advise on taking up similar other schemes, particularly in the context of the Sixth Five-Year Plan, a highpower committee of evaluation, under the chairmanship of Shri J. C. Mathur ICS (retd.) has been set up.
Non-formal Education for Urban Workers : Urban workers constitute an important segment of the population and their education is an important component of the overall efforts in adult education. Their educational programmes require to be linked
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with their economic activities, on the one hand, and social and cultural responsibilities, on the other. Two types of programmes have been in operation for them. The polyvalent adult education programme, which is offered through the three shramik vidyapeeths at Bombay, Delhi and Ahmedabad, aims at providing basic knowledge and skills to urban workers related directly to their jobs. The educational programmes in these vidyapeeths are more functional and related directly to the participants' work. The other programme is offered through the workers social. education institutes at Indore and Nagpur. The emphasis in these programmes is more on arousing a sense of social and civic responsibility and on stimulating a desire for knowledge in the working class.
To suggest future directions for the development and expansion of the urban adult education programmes and to reorient them in the light of past experience, a committee was set up to review the programmes of workers social education institutes, vis-a-vis, the programmes of the shramik vidyapeeths. The Committee, after studying different programmes offered by the two types of institutions, recommended a reorientation of workers' social education institutes on the pattern and approach followed by the shramik vidyapeeths. It further suggested that the social education aspect, expected to be the sole content of the workers' social education institutes, should be built into the shramik vidyapeeths and a network of such vidyapeeths should be set up all over the country in various urban and industrial centres.
Production of Literature for Neo-literates-To encourage the production of reading material for neo-literates, the Government of India organise each year a prize competition of manuscripts for neo- literates. The 19th competition was launched in 1976-77 and its scope was enlarged because the Department of Family Planning had decided to collaborate in that project. From 1976-77, 65 prizes will be awarded for outstanding manuscripts written on various topics in different Indian languages, 25 of them being earmarked for manuscripts written on family
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planning. Under the other part of the scheme, State Governments are provided grants-in-aid for producing and publishing better quality material for the neo-literates.
The Raja Rammohun Roy-Library Foundation, which was established to strengthen library movement in the rural areas, further expanded its activities and covered 5800 libraries in rural and semi-urban areas. The Foundation decided to set up a committee to evaluate its working and undertake a review of the present status of rural libraries.
Assistance to Voluntary Organisations Engaged in Adult Education Programmes.-The voluntary organisations share a substantial part of the responsibility in the field of non-formal education and adult literacy. The Ministry of Education continued to extend financial and academic support to these agencies. Emphasis during the year was mostly on projects of an innovative nature and those which benefited the deprived sections of the society. Some of the voluntary agencies took up very significant projects which benefited particularly illiterate women, urban slum-dwellers and tribals. Over 50 voluntary agencies were assisted during the year and the total amount of assistance was nearly Rs. 20 lakh.
Cooperation with Unesco.-Greater cooperation with Unesco has been achieved during the year. The Directorate of Nonformal (Adult) Education with the cooperation of Unesco undertook three experimental projects of preparing curricula under different socioeconomic settings. The emphasis was more on the development of methodology. The three projects involved preparation of curricula for rural women with the help of the Literacy House, Lucknow, for slum-dwellers with the help of Bengal Social Service League, Calcutta and for fishermen with the help of the Department of Adult Education, S. V. University, Tirupati. All the three projects were completed during the year and the report was submitted to Unesco.
The Government of India hosted the first phase of the Regional Mobile Field Operational Seminar organised by Unesco
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in November, 1976, with the active help of the Directorate of Non- formal Education in which 42 persons participated and also deputed its officers to participate in similar seminars organised in Iran and Afghanistan.
Exchange of Experience with Other Countries.--Exchange of experience with other countries in the field of adult education was further strengthened during the year. A 5-member delegation of experts in adult education visited the Federal Republic of Germany in May, 1976 and studied the adult education programmes of that country for a period of two weeks. The Cultural Exchange Programme concluded by the Government of India with Hungary, USSR & Czechoslovakia inter alia, contained provisions for exchange of information, experience, personnel, etc. in the field of adult and non-formal education.