ADULT EDUCATION
The Adult Education Programme was accorded high priority by its inclusion in the new 20-point economic programme and the minimum needs programme as a component of elementary education in the 6th Five Year Plan, with an outlay of Rs. 128 crores, including Rs. 60 crores in the Central Sector, and Rs. 68 crores in the State Sector. The 6th Five Year Plan document envisages, coverage of the entire adult illiterate population which is estimated to be around 11. crores, by the year 1990.
The Government has broadly accepted the recommendations of the NAEP Review Committee which reviewed the various aspects of the programme to suggest ways and means to make its implementation more effective and meaningful. The following decisions have, been taken regarding the policies and strategies to be adopted by the Government for better implementation of the Adult Education Programme
(1) to continue to provide grants-in-aid to voluntary organisations working in the field of adult education which have no communal leanings;
(2) to, enlist larger participation of students in the adult education programme as envisaged in the new 20-point economic pro- gramme;
(3) to cover districts having literacy rate below the national level and give priority to the target group of women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, migrant labourers and other weaker sections of the society, to improve their literacy position;
(4) to strengthen post-literacy programmes to avoid relapse into illiteracy by the neo- literates;
(5) to utilise the potential of electronic media in context of INSAT programmes.
The programme continued to be implemented through various agencies such as State Governments/Union Territories, Voluntary Agencies, Universities/Colleges, Nehru Yuvak Kendras etc. 1,29,413 centres were being run by different agencies with or without financial assistance of the Government of India as shown below:
(i) Rural Functional Literacy Programme 63,602
(ii) State Government Projects 59,840
(iii) Voluntary Agencies with Central
Assistance 822
(iv) Nehru Yuvak Kendras 1,519
(iv) Universities/Colleges 899
(vi) Others 1,662
Total 1,28,344
Himachal Pradesh* 1,069
Total No. of Centres 1,29,413
*Scheme-wise break-up is not intimated by the
Government.
The total enrolment in these centres was 36.68 lakhs. Of this, 21.42 lakhs were men and 15.25 lakhs women. Of the total enrolment, 10.03 lakhs were Scheduled Castes and, 6.24 lakhs were Scheduled Tribes.
Strengthening of Administrative Structure in the
States/UnionTerritories at State Head Quarters/District Level During the year an amount. of Rs. 59.77 lakhs was sanctioned to 16 States/Union Territories for the creation of Administrative Structures at the State as well as district levels for implementation of the Adult Education Programme.
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Rural Functional Literacy Programme During 1982-83, 316 districts were covered under the scheme. Of these, 199 are located in districts having literacy rate below the national average.
Scheme of Assistance to Voluntary Agencies
Working in the Field of Adult Education The scheme was revised in the light of the provision of the new 20 point-economic programme as well as the minimum needs programme. Fresh applications were invited through the State Government/Union Territory Administrations from this year under this scheme. During this year 70 voluntary agencies have so far been approved for running adult education programme. Grants amounting to Rs. 72.27 lakhs for running 3,905 centres in addition to projects of publication, post-literacy and follow-up programme have been approved.
Adult Education through Colleges/Universities
Involvement of Students The new 20-Point Programme, envisages greater involvement of students in the programmes for eradication of adult illiteracy. The University Grants Commission has constituted a Working Group of Adult Education and Extension Programme to review the existing Adult Education and Extension Programmes being implemented through the universities and colleges all over the country with a view to evolving a meaningful and effective programme of removal of illiteracy through the help of students and teachers of universities and colleges. "he first meeting of the Group took place on October 23, 1982.
Adult Education Programme through Nehru Yuvak
Kendras During 1982-83 approximately 4900 Chetna Sanghs/Adult Education Centres with an enrolment of 1.47 lakh persons were established through Nehru Yuvak Kendras in various parts of the country.
Shramik Vidyapeeths Shramik Vidyapeeths continued to function at Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi Faridabad, Guntur, Hyderabad, Indore, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Madras, Nagpur and Surat. New Shramik Vidyapeeths have been sanctioned in Kota and Rourkela. A number of polyvalent adult education programme for workers and their families based on curricula suited to their needs were organised. A training seminar for Directors/Programme Officers of the Shramik Vidyapeeths and Regional Directors of Workers' Education working under the Central Board of Workers' Education was organised at Bangalore from August 20 to 24, 1982.
State Resource Centres Financial assistance was continued to the various State Resource Centres set up in various States for providing training facilities and production of teaching and learning materials for Adult Education Programme. State Resource Centres at Angul, Calcutta, Delhi and Pune were sanctioned funds for setting up twenty experimental centres. Special cells to develop materials for the weaker sections and women were opened in the State Resource Centres at Angul, Calcutta, Madras and Pune.
Evaluation In order to study the strengths and weaknesses of the adult education programme, appraisal studies were conducted in respect of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra through eminent institutions, of Social Science Research. Follow up discussions on these studies were held with the representatives of the concerned State Governments, researchers, project evaluators, state resource centres and other agencies to initiate suitable measures for improving the programme, implementing process in the light of the findings of the studies.
Director of Adult Education During the current financial year the following main activities were undertaken by the Directorate of Adult Education which acts as the academic and technical wing of the Ministry and as the National Resource Centre.
Teaching, Learning and Follow-up Materials (i) A book entitled 'How to Write Primers for Adults' was edited and printed.
(ii) A prototype Primer for Women based on Functional Literacy for Adult Women under ICDS was drafted for pre-testing.
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(iii) A draft curriculum along with the contents for preparing Post literacy Readers was prepared on the basis of guidelines deve- loped earlier in a workshop. Based on these contents a draft prototype reader for the second stage of the programme was developed in another workshop organised at Bhopal.
(iv) A National Seminar on Problems of Adult Education for Linguistic Minorities and Tribal Population was organised at Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi with a view to assessing the available materials for this section of the society and formulate guidelines for development of the suitable materials etc.
(v) A manuscript in Hindi on 'Organising a Rural Library' was finalised and is under print.
(vi) Four manuscripts of supplementary readers, viz. Kisan Ke Paltu Pashu, Sanchari Rogon Ki Pahchan Wa Unse Bachav, Sita Ka Pota and Andhi Duniya in Hindi were finalised.
(vii) Quarterly Reports on the working of the fifteen State Resource Centres (functioning in the country at present) were brought out for dissemination of information relating to the type of resource support provided to the programme.
Workshop, Seminars, Conferences and
Training Programme
(a) Population Education A 8-day National Workshop on Population Education was organised in which the UNESCO Regional Office, Bangkok also provided technical assistance. Based on the deliberations of the workshop, guidelines for training the Project, Officers, Supervisors and Instructors for the Population Education Component to be built in the Adult Education Programme were evolved.
(b) Environmental Education In collaboration with the Indian Adult Education Association, the Directorate organised a workshop on Environmental Edu- cation with a view to identifying those areas of environmental education which need to be integrated with the adult education programme.
(c) Software on Adult Education for
INSAT A workshop for developing guidelines for preparation of software on Adult Education for use through INSAT was organised in collaboration with the State Resource Centre, Orissa.
(d) Strategies for Post-Literacy
Programmes A national Seminar on Strategies for Post- Literacy, Follow-up and Continuing Education was organised in Hyderabad in collaboration with the State Resource Centre, Andhra Pradesh with a view to examining the 6 models suggested by the J.P. Naik Committee and the three-year package programme of adult education presented by the Kothari Committee from all angles and formulating ways for their operationalisation.
(e) Resource Support for Adult
Education Programme With the objective of identifying the gaps in the different areas of resource support in the adult education programme, specifically in the context of the inclusion of adult education in the minimum needs programme and the new 20- Point Programme of the nation and to discuss ways and means of bringing them, an All India. Conference of State Resource Centres was organised in collaboration with the State Resource Centre, Maharashtra.
(f) Orientation of Personnel connected
with Education of Urban Workers Two training programmes, one for the Programme Officers and the other for Directors of Shramik Vidyapeeths, were organised. The Programme also aimed at developing mecha-
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nisms. of relationship between the Shramik Vidyapeeths and the Central Board of Workers' Education the representatives of which also participated in the programme.
A Progress Report for the quarter ending June 1982 on the. functioning of Shramik Vidyapeeths was brought out which gives an idea of the number and types of courses being organised and the persons benefiting from them. A report on the functioning of different Shramik Vidyapeeths since their inception was also prepared.
Monitoring Evaluation and Statistics
(i) National Workshop on Monitoring and
Evaluation With the main purpose of reviewing the monitoring system and streamlining it further in view of the emphasis laid on monitoring of the Adult Education Programme as part of the 20-Point Programme, a National Workshop was organised. The workshop was geared to review the data gaps. and identify problems in quick flow of information for improving the feedback aspect and ensuring reliability of the information supplied. Besides preparation of training modules for monitoring personnel at the State/Project level, steps needed for monitoring the post-literacy and follow-up programmes and phasing of norms for learner evaluation at different stages were also covered.
(ii) Annual and Quarterly Monitoring
Reports An Annual Report (1981-82) and 'quarterly reports for the quarters ending September and December, 1981 and March and June, 1982 were brought out.