ADULT EDUCATION
The National Policy on Education took into account the magnitude of Adult illiteracy in India and recommended, among other things, that teachers and students should acutally be involved in organising lit- eracy campaigns, especially as part of the social and national service programme.
The following account deals with the steps which the Ministry has initiated in accordance with the national policy resolution.
Kisan Saksharta Yojana (Farmer's Functional Literacy Programme) Kisan Saksharta Yojana (Farmer's Functional Literacy Programme) is one of the three components of the integrated Project of Farmer's Training and Functional Literacy jointly operated by the Ministries of Education. Agriculture and Information and Broadcasting. The other two components are Farmers' Training and Farm Broadcasting. The Project recognises that adults practising farming would be interested in literacy if it comes to them as part of. the process of employing new techniques for improving their agricultural production. The adults for functional literacy classes are drawn from the Discussion Groups (Charcha Mandals) organised under the Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture. Similarly, reading materials and teaching methods are oriented to the functional needs of the farmers in the context of the `High Yielding Varieties Programme'. As an integral component of the joint project, it acts as a service programme in so far as it helps to improve the effciency of the farmers in the special Programme of agriculture production i.e. the H.Y.V.P. through specially designed functional literacy courses for them.
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Started in 1967-68 in 3 districts, the Programme has progressive- ly moved up to 10 districts in 1968-69; to 25 districts in 1969-70; to 60 districts in 1970-71; and to 80 districts in 1971-72. During 1972- 73, the programme has been sanctioned for an additional 26 districts. About 1,50,000 adult farmers have been made functionally literate so far. When the 26 new districts of 1972-73 start running the function- al literacy classes-after they have completed the base-line surveys, etc., the annual out-turn of beneficiaries is expected to go up to 1,80,000 from 1973-74.
In the working of the Functional Literacy programme during the period under report, vigorous measures have been taken for training and orientation of key level personnel, production of problem-oriented reading materials, effective coordination between different compo- nents, arrangements for follow-up materials etc.
National Board of Adult Education In December, 1969 the National Board of Adult Education was set up under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister for Education and Social Welfare with an object to advise on all matters relating to adult education, to draw up policies and programmes and to review progress from time to time to ensure the coordination between the different agencies, to promote the production of literature and other teaching material, to act, as a clearing house of ideas, to promote researches, investigations and evaluations in Adult Education and generally to advise, assist or undertake all allied activities and programmes as will promote adult education. The National Board of Adult Education so far held two meetings on 4th May, 1970 and 21st July, 1972 In its first meeting, the Board adopted 14 resolutions. These resolutions were brought to the notice of the various State Governments, Universities and Voluntary Organisations. It has result- ed in moving the State Governments to give importance to the programme of adult education/adult literacy. The Universities are also realis- ing the importance of education and have in most of the cases included adult education as a component of their National Social Service Pro- gramme.
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The second meeting of the Board was held in July, 1972 and the resolutions passed by them have been circulated.
Pilot Projects for Eradication of Illiteracy On the recommendations made by the National Board of Adult Educa- tion in its first meeting and the National Seminar on Adult Education, a scheme has been prepared which visualises eradication of illiteracy on a massive scale in a phased manner. The idea is to involve the State Governments, the District Administration and the local people in implementing the programme on a pilot basis. The scheme has been sent to the State Governments, for its acceptance and its implementation. After the reaction of all the State Governments is known the decision in regard to its implementation will be taken. The scheme envisages eradication of illiteracy on a massive scale in a phased manner.
Assistance to Voluntary Organisations Working in the Field of
Adult Education The scheme was revised in 1970-71 by a Working Group providing for liberalised terms and conditions of assistance to voluntary organ- isations working in the field of Adult Education for taking up mean- ingful projects in the field of Adult Education and Adult Literacy. The scheme has been given wide publicity through the State Govern- ments, Union Territory Administrations, voluntary Organisations etc. During the period under report, a provision of Rs. 14.00 lakhs has been made under the scheme. Up to December, 1972 grants amounting to Rs. 4,64,310/- has been released to various voluntary organisations.
Workers' Social Education Institutes A scheme was evolved for providing social education facilities to Industrial Workers by setting up Workers' Social Education Institutes in cities having a large concentration of labour population. The objectives of the scheme are as under :
1. to stimulate a desire for knowledge in the working classes;
2. to provide facilities for general education and enlarge the range of their interests;
3. to arouse a sense of social and civic responsibil- ity in them; and
4. to provide wholesome recreation.
The first Workers' Social Education Institute was set up in the year 1960 at Indore and the second Institute was set up at Nagpur in the year 1968. An Expert Group set up to evaluate the working and formulating future programmes of these institutes recommended that more Institutes of this kind may be set up.
Directorate of Adult Education The Directorate of Adult Education was set up as a Subordinate Office of the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare with effect from the 1st March, 1971 after taking the Department of Adult Educa- tion out of the National Council of Educational Research and Training. The Directorate acts as the technical and academic wing of the Minis- try of Education and Social Welfare, as far as Adult Education and Adult Literacy Programmes are concerned, and helps in the formulation and implementation of the programmes and takes up any other work as assigned to it by the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare from time to time.
Literature for Neo-literate Adults-Prize Competition of books for
Neo-Literates During the year 1972-73, 27 books manuscripts 9 in Hindi, 2 each in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali and 1 each in Assamese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Oriya, Sindhi, Gujarati and Urdu, were selected for the award of Rs 1,000 under the above mentioned scheme.
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Polyvalent Adult Education Centres (Shramik Vidyapeeth) The Government of India continued giving financial assistanee of Rs. 1 lakh per annum during 1972-73 to the Shramik Vidyapeeth, Bombay, run under the auspices of the Bombay City Social Education Committee. It has been decided to open another Polyvalent Centre in Delhi.
Financial Allocations The financial allocations for the various schemes described in this chapter during 1972-73 and 1973-74 are as follows:
(Rs. in lakhs)
Sl. Item Provision for 1972-73 Budget
No.
Original Revised Estimates
1973-74
1 2 3 4 5
1. Directorate of (Non-Plan) Adult Edu-
cation 5.30 5.10 5.50
(Directorate of Adult Education
(Functional Literacy) (Plan) 0.82 2.51 17.72
2. Grant to Polyvalent Adult Education
Centres 2.00 1.19 2.50
3. Production of Literature for Neo-
literates 2.00 2.00 12.00
4. Farmers' Functional Literacy Project 50.00 20.00 40.00
5. Workers' Social Education Institute,
(Plan) 0.62 0.62 0. 62
(Non-Plan) 0.38 0.38 0. 38
6. Workers' Social Education Institute,
Nagpur 1.00 0.20 1.00
7. National Board of Adult Education 0.15 @ @
8. Voluntary Organisations working in
the field of Adult Education 14.00 12.00 30.00
9. Pilot Projects for eradication of
illiteracy in selected districts. 1.00
Under Consideration.