 ADULT EDUCATION

Pending decision on the Report of the Review Committee on the National Adult Education Programme and the empowered committee, the Adult Edu- cation Programme was continued at the 1979-80 level. Meanwhile, the Programme was included among the Minimum Needs Programme as a com- ponent of Elementary Education in the Sixth Five Year Plan with an out- lay of Rs. 128 crores including Rs. 60 crores, in Central Sector and Rs. 68 crores, in State Sector.

The Programme continued to be implemented through various agencies such as State Governments/Union Territories, Voluntary Agencies, Univer- sities, Colleges, Nehru Yuvak Kendras etc. 92,045 centres were being run on 1-6-1981 by different agencies with or without financial assistance of the Government of India as shown below:-

        
                                                            (i)  Rural Functional Literary Programme                     48,369
        
                                                            (ii) State Government Projects                               37,352
        
                                                           (iii)  Voluntary Agencies with. Central Assistance               339
        
                                                           (iv)  Nehru Yuvak Kendras                                      4,884
        
                                                           (v)   Universities and Colleges                                  585
        
                                                           (vi)  Others                                                     516
        
                                                                              Total                                      92,045

The insignificant increase in the number of centres as compared to the num- ber during 1980-81 was because no new project was sanctioned during the year.

Strengthening of Administrative Structure in the States./Union Territories at State Head Quarters/District Level

During the year an amount of Rs. 65,24,304 was sanctioned to 17 States/ Union Territories for the creation of administrative structures at the State Level and for 231 districts.

Rural Functional Literacy Projects

The number of districts covered under, this scheme during 1981-82 was 241, of which 133 projects were located in districts having literacy level below the national average, as per the 1981 Census.

Assistance to Voluntary Agencies working in the Field of Adult Education

Funds were released to Voluntary Organisations for projects approved before April 1980 and commitments already made by the Government. Efforts were also directed to scrutinising the antecedents of all voluntary agencies oil the grant-in-aid list of this Ministry with a view to weeding out such organisations which had communal leanings.

Assistance was also continued to 14 State Resource Centres and seven evaluating agencies for undertaking evaluation of field programmes.

Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi was recognised as a Resource Centre for Adult Education Programme in Delhi.

A conference of Directors of State Resource Centres was held in Pune in February 1982 to review the working of the State Resource Centres and devise methods for improving their working and performance.

Adult Education Through Colleges and Universities in India

The University Grants Commission continued to assist the universities/ colleges to participate in Programmes of Adult Education and Extension as well as Continuing Education in accordance with the guidelines laid down

for the purpose. The period of assistance for the Adult Education and, Ex- tension Programme has been extended by two years. With regard to We Programme of Continuing Education, assistance of the Commission. would be available upto 31st March, 1985. Steps, have been taken to review the existing guidelines on Adult Education and Extension as also Continuing Education. The Commission also agreed to extend the scope of extension activities to include population education, science for the masses etc.

Adult Education Programme Through Nehru Yuvak Kendras

During 1980-81, 4884 Chetna Sanghs/Adult Education Centres with an enrolment of 1,46,219 persons were established by the Nehru Yuvak Ken- dras in various parts. of the country.

Shramik Vidyapeeth

Shramik Vidyapeeths continued to function at Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Ban- galore, Bombay, Delhi, Guntur, Hyderabad, Indore, Jamshedpur and Nag- pur. Efforts were made to operationalise the Shramik Vidyapeeths at Cal-, cutta, Kanpur and Madras. New Shramik Vidyapeeths were sanctioned for Surat and Faridabad. A number of Adult Education Programmes for wor- kers based on curricula suited to the needs of different categories of workers were organised.

Monitoring Evaluation and Research

In order to study the strengths and weaknesses of the Adult Education Programme, appraisal studies were conducted in respect of Rajasthan, Gu- jarat, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra through eminent institutions of Social Science Research. A meeting was convened in December 1981 to discuss the methodology issues involved in the evaluation of the Adult Edu- cation Programme. The representatives -of the evaluating agencies, State Governments and officials of the Directorate of Adult Education and Minis- try of Education participated.

Follow up discussions on these studies were held with the representatives of the concerned State Governments, researchers, projects evaluators, State Resource Centres and other agencies to initiate suitable measures for streng- thening further the programme implementation process in the light of the findings of these studies.

DIRECTORATE OF ADULT EDUCATION

During the current financial year, following main activities were under- taken by the Directorate of Adult Education which acts as the academic and technical wing of the Ministry and the National Resource Centre

Teaching-Learning and Follow-up Materials

(i) The Twenty-second National Prize Competition for producing literature for neo-literates wits held. 54 manuscripts in various regional languages were awarded prizes-40 on topics of general education and 14 on those related to family welfare.

(ii) Eight manuscripts were prepared in Urdu in. a Writers' Work- shop which was organised at Urdu Academy, Lucknow in col- laboration with Bureau for Promotion of Urdu.

(iii) Another Writers' Workshops was organised at Dehradun for pre- paring literature for neo-literates of Garhwal Region in colla- boration with the Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Dehradun.

(iv) Two booklets, namely "Swasthaya Suvidhayen Aap Ke Darvaje per" and "Ek Nai Jankari", were prepared/simplified and sent for printing.

(v) 17 manuscripts were prepared on schemes and programmes relating to development in two Writers Workshops held at Varanasi and Ranchi in collaboration with the Adult Education and Extension Programme Unit of the Banaras Hindu Universi- ty and Xavier Institute of Social Science, Ranchi, Bihar, respec- tively.

(vi) "Bahno Ki Pahli Kitab"-a primer for women in Urdu and "Navan Chanan"-a primer in Punjabi were brought out.

(vii) A 'Set of teaching-learning 'materials for rural, adult learners, namely, 'Dharti Ke Lal' was prepared and is now under print,

(viii) An annotated catalogue of award books in Hindi from 1975 to 1980 was prepared.

Promotional Activities

(i) A cartoon booklet 'From the Diary of an unknown person' was published in almost all the Indian languages. It depicts the experiences of an instructor who faces usual initial resistance and eventually succeeds in his mission.

(ii) DAE News Letter--a bimonthly periodical, was published re- gularly.

Unicef Assisted Project for Non-formal Education for Women and Girls in Mother anti Child Care

A project for non-formal education for women and girls concerning mother and child care was undertaken with the assistance of UNICEF. A National workshop was organised with the objective to provide necessary orientation to the agencies to be involved in this project. The project proposals prepared by various agencies are being finalised and assistance provided for the preparation of a package of materials relating to mother and chilli care. Steps are also being taken to make child care facilities avail- able to some of the women adult education centres on an experimental basis in order to motivate women to attend adult education centres regularly.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Statistics

(i) The monitoring system, as operating on a country wide scale since 1979 was reviewed in the National Seminar-cum-workshop with a view to strengthening it further. An Annual Report on Monitoring for the year 1979-80 and quarterly reports for the quarters ending June, September, December, 1980 and March and June 1981, were brought out.

(ii)Appraisal studies of the programme through the Social Sciences Research Institutions of repute are continued and reports in respect of the project assessed in the States of Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu were brought out.

(iii) A scheme to promote research in Adult Education Programme was formulated and a brochure entitled 'Research in Adult Education-Guide- lines for Proposals' was published. The following three proposals were approved :-

(a) An action research on the Educative- component of Holistic Health care for Rural Communities in West Bengal.

(b) Adult Education for Women-Developing a Research Base through four Case Studies,

(iv) 'Based on analysis of literacy statistics, visual materials, as detailed below, were prepared.

--All India Literacy Position of Population excluding 0-4 (1951, 1961, 1971, 1981)

--Ranking of States/Union Territories by literacy rates-1981.

--Monitoring system for the Adult Education Programme : How diagram.

-District-wise literacy rates by sex were calculated in respect of States/Union Territories in the country. Districts having literacy rates below the National Average were identified for planning schemes of linking adult education with other developmental programmes.

Training Programmes/Materials

(i) Two Orientation course and One Refresher Course were orga- nised for the District Adult Education Officers (DAEOs), in which 72 offi- cers from different States/Union Territories were oriented.

(ii) A 13-day Field Oriented Training Programme was organised for DAEOs in which 24 officers from 9 States participated.

(iii) Proto-type materials for the training of Instructors of Hindi- speaking States were prepared in a workshop organised at Literacy House, Lucknow.

(iv) A Seminar for imparting training to Adult educators and popula- tion education experts in population education was organised in collabora- tion with the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi.

(v) A training film namely 'You can do it' was prepared for develop- ing skills in the Instructors and Supervisors to prepare low cost teaching aids. Mr. James A. Beveridge, a Unesco Expert provided the necessary ex- pertise in this venture.

International Collaboration

foreign Visitors

(a) A three member team of field level staff from the Department of Non-formal Education, Thailand visited India to study the Adult Educa- tion Programme including the components of agriculture and rural techno- logy in India.

(b) A team of 5 experts from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand besides India visited India to study the development of post Lite- racy strategies, methods and materials in India, under the Unesco sponsored Programme.

(c) A 2-member delegation from the German Democratic Republic visited India to study the functioning of adult education centres.

(d) Mr. Pitter Wan Rijan, Expert in Documentation, Unesco Re- gional Office, Bangkok visited the Directorate to study the documentation and bibliographical work done in the field of adult education.

(e) A three member delegation from Vietnam visited Delhi, Patna and Calcutta to study the Adult Education Programme.

Visits Abroad

(i) Two officials visited Jakarta in April, 1981 and participated in the Unesco Regional Seminar on Education as Resource Person/Delegate.

(ii) One of the Joint Directors participated in the Planning training Group Meeting on the training of literacy personnel held in Bangkok under the auspices of UNESCO in October 1981. He also attended a meeting or, "Development of learning strategies on post literacy and edu- cation in the perspective on life long education" organised by Unesco Institute of Education, Hamburg, West Germany in October 1981. Miscellaneous