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- introduction of a close knit system of monitoring at all levels backed by a system of intensive test checks to ensure credibility in information.
8.8.5 The concept of area approach is incorporated in the TLC as also in the centre-based programmes of RFLP and voluntary agencies.
(c) Environment Building 8.8.6 The successful completion of the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha (BGVJ) has helped in generating a positive demand for literacy. Literacy is now widely viewed as a basic need (like drinking water and immunisation) and its strength as a major input for human resource development recognised. In order to capitalise on the social churning that is taking place, the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti has formed a national level organising committee with a general body and executive committee which is assisting NLM in planning, supervising and execution of the programme on a day-to-day basis, in identifying snags and pitfalls in TLC districts and applying timely correctives for the desired results. It also helps in identifying regions and districts which have the ripe potential for taking up TLCs. It organises workshops on training, post-literacy & continuing education and MIS. It helps in designing software (lecture notes, cassettes, slides, information brochures, guidebooks, training-cum-instruction manual, publicity brochures, etc.,) and arranging their distribution.
8.8.7 Similarly the Paidal Jathas of the Gandhian and the Sarvodaya workers who covered five States in 1990 have helped in mobilising approximately one million volunteers.
Reorganisation of Centre-Based Programme 8.9.1 The centre-based programme of RFLP has been reviewed and revised and all State Governments have been advised to restructure their projects as per the new scheme. Detailed guidelines have been issued on the project formulation and the implementation strategy. Following are the important features for the revised scheme :
i) Micro planning for an area-based approach: Meticulous planning is required to be conducted by a door-to-door survey to identify and assess the total number of illiterates, potential sites for setting up adult education centre, requirement of teaching/learning materials and, designing a system for supervision, monitoring; coordination, evaluation and for post- literacy and continuing education. The area selected for the project could be a village or a cluster of villages, a mandal Panchayat, a Panchayat samiti, a taluka or even a district, the condition being that the micro planning so conducted should aim at completely eradicating illiteracy in a given time frame which could be a year or two.
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ii) Environment building: Environment building activities should precede actual instructional work, with the objective of mobilising public opinion, creating a demand for literacy and mobilising the volunteers as well as the learners. For this purpose all types of media and art forms could be used to disseminate the message and village campaign committees could be constituted.
iii) Management structure: The reorganised projects would be small, compact and contiguous and would be of 100 centres each under the charge of a Project Coordinator. Each project could be implemented in two cycles a year. The staff viz., Instructors and Preraks would be properly selected keeping in view their experience and track-record. They would be given in- service and pre-service training. A project advisory committee would help manage its daily affairs.
iv) Monitoring & evaluation :A suitable MIS has been designed for effective monitoring.Process evaluation which is internal, is for the purpose of evaluating the learning outcome and the impact evaluation by external agencies for an independent assessment of the management of the programme.
8.9.2. Apart from these characteristics of the new scheme, priority has been given to women's participation and establishing linkages with development departments, functionaries and programmes.
8.9.3 The revised scheme has been accepted by most states/UTs and many State Governments have already begun reorganising their projects and have started sending proposals on the revised pattern.
Voluntary Agencies 8.10.1 The Central Scheme of Assistance to Voluntary Agencies (VAs) which was put into operation during 1987-88 under the National Literacy Mission has been revised in the light of recommendations of a sub-group on voluntary agencies set up by the Executive Committee of NLMA in order to implement the strategies envisaged under the NLM effectively and efficiently. Revised guidelines have been issued to State Governments/UT Administrations and State Resource Centres. They have been advised to take necessary steps for operationalisation of the Scheme.
8.10.2 The principal strategy in implementation of the programme would now be volunteer-based TLC in a specific area. It has also been decided that no automatic extension would be given in future to the traditional centre-based programme. Instead, overriding preference would be given to those voluntary agencies who have a good track record of social service in
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general and experience in the field of adult education in particular and who are willing to take up area specific, time bound, volunteer- based, cost effective, and result oriented plans for eradication of illiteracy. Against this new perspective and thinking, VAs would now prepare proposals for achieving total literacy by adopting volunteer- based approach in a few villages/Panchayats or block or portion of block depending on their capability, experience and expertise, availability of resources and the base which has been built up by them over the years in the area. No payment to the instructors/volunteers has been visualised. The spirit of the approach should be one of total voluntarism. However, modest payment can be made to those workers who would be engaged whole time in the implementation of the projects. Payment of honorarium/incentives to instructors would be considered only in cases where it would be absolutely necessary and fully justified.
8.10.3 A presentation on the salient features of the revised guidelines was made before a meeting of Education Secretaries and Directors of Adult Education in States/UTs on 12th October 1991 taken by the Minister of Human Resource Development. Subsequently in another meeting held on 15 November, 1991 salient features were placed before a select group of voluntary agencies to facilitate project formulation. State Resource Centres in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, U.P. and West Bengal have organised 15 workshops to acquaint the voluntary agencies about the revised guidelines so that they may internalise the concept of the revised approach and implement the project satisfactorily. Monitoring system and Management Information System have been developed so that projects could be monitored through computer.
8.10.4 So far 14 voluntary agencies -- 3 in Assam, 1 in Bihar, 2 in Madhya Pradesh, 3 in Orissa and 5 in U.P. -- have launched total literacy projects to make 14 blocks fully literate within a period of two years. During the current year grant-in-aid has been released to 311 voluntary agencies is respect of on-going projects of Adult Education Centres and Jana Shikshan Nilayams sanctioned last year under the old scheme.
8.10.5 In continuation of Akshar Sena Abhiyan launched during October, 1990 by voluntary agencies of Sarvodaya and Gandhian background, four State level workshops and 60 district level workshops have been organised to acquaint them with the revised guidelines and formulation of projects for total literacy in specific, compact and contiguous area. Proposals formulated as per the revised guidelines have already been received and 14 projects have been approved by GIA Committee in December, 1991.
8.10.6 A Nucleus Cell sanctioned to Patel Education Society, New Delhi for involvement of students in Delhi in literacy and adult education programme continued its activities throughout the year.
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Student Participation 8.11.1 The number of students from schools and colleges/universities participating in literacy activities increased considerably during the year. Besides over four lakh NSS students from universities/colleges, about four lakh school students in Orissa, and about 1.60 lakh school students in Rajasthan actively participated in one or the other activity relating to promotion of literacy. Majority of the volunteers in the TLCs taken up in 69 districts in the country were also students.
8.11.2 One interesting development that took place during the year was the decision of the CBSE to launch the `Special Adult Literacy Drive' (SALD) in all its affiliated schools from the academic session 1991- 92 in classes IX and XI, which will be extended to all classes from classes IX to XII from the 1992-93 session. The literacy work which was hitherto taken up by the students, as a part of work experience which is already provided in the curriculum, will also include SALD. Whereas, work experience will be confined to promotional activities, the actual teaching will be taken up through SALD. The CBSE has also introduced incentives for each student depending on the number of adults made literate. The incentives will include 5 marks for each person made literate, 8 marks for two persons and 10 marks for three or more persons made literate.
Post-Literacy & Continuing Education 8.12.1 With a vie. to preventing the relapse of neo-literates into illiteracy and ensuring that the skills acquired by them at the basic literacy stage are reinforced, retained and applied in day-to-day life, NLM envisaged institutionalisation of post-literacy and continuing education arrangements through setting up of the Jana Shikshan Nilayams (JSNs). As a result, 32318 JSNs have been sanctioned to be run by various governmental and nongovernmental agencies out of which about 25000 have already become operational. Some more JSNs are expected to become operational by the close of 1991-92.
8.12.2 With the shift in the strategy of imparting literacy from the traditional centre-based approach to the mass campaign approach it was felt that JSN as a strategy designed to cater to the post- literacy and continuing education needs of the neo-literates of the centre-based programme, cannot be uniformly applied particularly in the area/district covered by the TLCs. Accordingly, a sub-group under the chairmanship of Shri Satyen Maitra was set-up to review the post- literacy and continuing education strategies and suggest a frame-work in the context of the TLCs. The Group, inter-alia, noted that there are wide variations in the levels achieved by those who are supposed to have become literates and that there was enough evidence to suggest that a substantial proportion of persons who acquired literacy skills through the TLCs tend to relapse into illiteracy.
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8.12.3 The Group felt that the learning strategies for different groups have to be different and that a single design may not suit all areas. It, therefore, recommended that the post-literacy programme should address itself to the goals of remediation, continuation and application of skills to actual living and working situations. For this purpose, it would be necessary to ensure that (i) the post- literacy programme caters to the needs -of different categories of the neo-literates; (ii) it is linked to the larger processes of personal, social and vocational development through application of the basic reading, writing and computational skills already acquired; (iii) a textual material of the type called Book-IV or PL-I is introduced to reduce the gap between the basic literacy and adequate functional literacy; and (iv) a 30-40 hours "Bridge" primer through which the neo-literates could be encouraged to gradually to wean themselves away from the instructor/volunteer dependency syndrome to self-reliant autonomous stage of learning is introduced.
Post-Literacy Campaigns in TLC Areas 8.13.1 While the recommendations made by the Group for post- literacy and continuing education are under consideration of the Government, different models of post-literacy and continuing education are being developed and are being used in areas/districts where the TLCs are already over. For instance, in Burdwan district the post- literacy campaign is being run oil purely voluntary basis under the overall guidance and supervision of the Village Education Committee. The emphasis is on decentralisation with the objective of having atleast one centre of continuing education in each and every village instead of the situation where a JSN is expected to cater to the needs of about 5000 neo-literates belonging to a groups of 5 to 8 villages. The formation of Village Education Committees (VEC) and Urban Education Committees (UEC) is the high water mark of the post-literacy campaign in the district. These Committees have been effective in taking care of the infrastructural support to the learning centres and to establish interdepartmental linkages. A newspaper for the neo- literates is being published and a book on application of literacy in day-to-day life has been provided in Bengali, Hindi and Urdu. Environment building activities like organisation of competition amongst neo-literates, sport-cum-cultural competitions for neo- literates and volunteers, showing of video-cassettes on developmental activities, organisations of literacy stalls in all important fairs and exhibitions, etc., are being taken up on continuous basis.
8.13.2 Similarly, in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, the post- literacy campaign, covering three lakh neo-literates and one lakh semi-literate in the age-group 9-35, is being implemented through an institutionalised frame-work of Jan Chaitnya Kendra (JCK). Each JCK caters to the needs of 40 learners. The leadership to the JCK is provided by a Committee comprising 3 volunteers and 3 neo-literates. Whereas there will be committees
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at the Gram Panchayat level and Mandal level to supervise and coordinate the activities of JCKs, at the district level the Zilla Saksharata Samiti will continue to plan, implement and supervise the post-literacy programme. Each JCK functions as a reading room, library, evening class, and a discussion forum for creating awareness among the neo-literates and will also run two or three literacy centres to cover the dropouts or leftovers. A set of 50 books on topics relating to agriculture, animal husbandry, health, child care, social legislations, communal harmony, national integration, etc., is being provided to the neo-literates of each JCK. Weekly discussions of neo-literates would also be organised to deliberate on various issues relevant to their day-to-day life.
8.13.3 In other areas/districts where TLCs are over, post literacy campaigns have been/are being planned keeping in view the local needs, aspirations and interests of the neo-literates, emphasis all along being on decentralisation of the post literacy activities so that after some time the community itself takes over the programme on continuing basis.
Shramik Vidyapeeths (SVPs) 8.14.1 Thirty-seven SVPs continued to function in 1991-92 in different industrial and urban centres of the country. They represent an institutional frame-work for offering non-formal, adult and continuing education and polyvalent training programme to industrial workers, to their family members, self-employed members and prospective workers, etc. Of them one SVP at Delhi is being run by the Central Government, three SVPs by universities, twenty-five by autonomous bodies and remaining eight by State Governments.
8.14.2 Each SVP has a nucleus of professional staff under the control of a Director who is assisted by two or three full-time Programme Officers. Additionally, each SVP also engages services of resource persons to impart various skills and organises courses relevant to specific areas on part-time basis. Prior to conducting a programme or starting a course, socioeconomic profiles and work plan for operationalisation of activities are designed by all the SVPs. Such profiles help in having a proper understanding of the manpower needs of the clientele and the resources which can be mobilised for achieving the desired object. The programmes conducted by the SVPs have helped all sections of the society living in urban, semi-urban and industrial areas such as illiterate, semi-literate, skilled, semi- skilled and unskilled persons. These programmes have also been of special advantage to the weaker sections of society such as SCs, STs, physically and orthopaedically handicapped and women in distress.
8.14.3 The scheme of Shramik Vidyapeeths has been reviewed by an expert group constituted under the Chairmanship of Director General, NLM and the report of the Expert Group for strengthening of SVP as also for enriching the programme content was placed
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before the Expenditure Finance Committee(EFC). However, the EFC could not accede to the proposed revision of the scheme of SVP owing to financial stringency.
8.14.4 SVPs at Vijayawada and Silchar made 8900 and 8033 persons literate through voluntary efforts. The SVPs at Rourkela and Jamshedpur associated themselves with the TLCs in Rourkla city and Jamshedpur very actively. The SVP, Delhi implemented a "Slum Basti Education and Training Project" in few selected slum clusters in Delhi and New Delhi areas in collaboration with the slum wing of Delhi Development Authority(DDA) for improvement of quality of learning in the NFE programme in Delhi slums by adopting a strategy of achieving MLL. Linkages with the National Open School for promotion of continuing education were strengthened with the objective of taking up standardised programmes in certain trades with provision for joint certification by the SVP concerned and the National Open School.
Technology Demonstration 8.15.1 In order to harness the findings of scientific and technological research to improve the pace and quality of the programme and to create a better teaching/learning environment, the work of identifying and improving the techno-pedagogic inputs continued. The improved chalks which were developed by Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu are being field tested by various State Resource Centres all over the country. Chargeable Power Packs(CPPs) have been developed by Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Delhi and are being procured in the JSNs in various districts. Two hundred improved CPPs have already been installed at various places. Two hundred additional Solar Power Packs were also installed in various Technology Demonstration Districts and in the districts where TLCs are under implementation during the year. Research and development work for designing and manufacture of improved slates and blackboards continued. Micro computer-based multiscript display system, information retrieval system, LED Display system and Electronic work recognition system have been developed and are being field tested in various State Resource Centres in the country.