ADULT AND CONTINUING EDUCATION
THE ARGUEMENT : Although at one point the Committee says : "Clearly, like UEE, adult education with a strong literacy component has to be one of the central items on the national agenda", this positive perception of the Committee notwithstanding, there are perceptions which do not conform to the above thinking, rather it goes against certain well established postulates regarding adult education. These include the following :
Literacy and Adult Education can be separated, the former being given much less importance
Literacy and Adult Education have a symbiotic relationship and are parts of a larger system. Literacy provides a minimal entry point to education and through this, access to the world of information, communication, modernisation and innovation. Every adult is considered to be a productive member of the human society; he/she has to be conscious,vigilant and literate so that he/she is able to participate effectively in the affairs of the family, affairs of the community and society and in the larger affairs of the nation. Eventually, acquisition of access to literacy must help in raising the level of human awareness so that they could transcend the barriers of their own environment and establish an effective outreach with the wider world the larger humanity. The access which begins with literacy has to be carried forward, reinforced and continued so that it becomes a tool of continuous upgradation of life-skills and survival skills and enables every adult member of the society to prepare for the struggle of life and face that struggle with courage and confidence. It is in this perspective that adult literacy becomes an indispensable part of a programme of adult education for illiterates.
Analysis of past experience deals only with limitations of delivery system
The National Adult Education Programme was launched with lot of national political will and commitment on 2nd
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October, 1978. Initially, it was intended to be a mass programme to secure the involvement and support of all sections of the society. The programme was conceptually sound in as much as it sought to mobilise, motivate and involve the illiterate adults in the programme through a centre where one instructor was expected to impart literacy to 30 adult learners belonging to different sections of the society. In that sense, the programme could be an important tool of social integration apart from being a major vehicle of communication, sharing of experience and integration with total development process. The programme failed to yield the desired results or create the desired impact due to a variety of reasons both related to demand and supply. On the supply side, there were series of infirmities and deficiencies in the delivery system. On the demand side, adequate care was not taken to generate a natural demand of illiterate adults for literacy. Similarly, adequate attention was not paid for creating a positive environment for literacy and emphasising on the need for voluntary participation by learners and instructors.
The groundswell created by_mass campaigns for total literacy has been under-estimated
The bias against adult literacy with which the committee started in its first publication "Towards an enlightened and humane society - a Perspective Paper" continues to run through the body of the main report as well. The Committee's exhortation to avoid disproportionate emphasis on literacy campaigns, which sounds very odd and negative in the perspective paper, continues to refrain in the final report even though the element of cynicism and scepticism is somewhat softened. Starting with Ernakulam and proceeding to the whole of Kerala, Goa and Pondicherry and 45 districts in other parts of the country, one cannot but come to the conclusion that the campaign approach
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for total literacy appears to be the most feasible and effective approach. This conviction stems from several developments emanating from the TLC experiment in different parts of the country which apart from generating tremendous enthusiasm and euphoria has also imparted a holistic approach to literacy. It is quite true that the campaign approach may have limitations of universal application due to geographical, topographical and cultural constraints, constraints of communication and logistic support in certain pockets of acute disadvantages but this, by itself, does not reduce the potential or efficacy of the campaign approach for total literacy. Even in difficult areas or pockets of educational backwardness, the campaign approach could be tried out gradually in more than one phase with encouraging results (examples - Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh and Raichur in Karnataka).
Mahila Samakhya has been treated as a model of adult education
Mahila Samakhya is a programme primarily directed towards womens' equality and empowerment It is directed to mobilise women, to bring them together, to enable them to identify their strength and weaknesses, problems and constraints inhibiting their day-to-day lives and equipping them to articulate their demand for better employment, better wages, better participation in the affairs of the family and community, etc. It has been observed that once women are aroused and awakened and are enabled to perceive the need for literacy as a tool of their organisation and empowerment, they will be self-propelled and self-driven to accept literacy as their felt need. It is in this sense that Mahila Samakhya can effectively support and strengthen the literacy promotion efforts. As a matter of fact, Mahila Samakhya has fully participated in the mass campaigns and has been fully supportive thereof. It is not an alternative model of adult education but an adjunct there of.
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RECOMMENDATION NO. 178 There are 2 parts of this recommendation viz. (a) there should be an integration of Adult Education with measures for promoting health, nutrition, housing and employment, and (b) awareness should be created first after which the adult learner should ask for literacy as a felt need.
The importance of awareness and developmental inputs is presupposed in NPE. The importance of nexus between literacy and development has also been recognised in NLM. It is however, difficult to. conceive of a situation where primacy is accorded to one to the exclusion of the other. This point can be further explained as below:
Acquisition of functional literacy may not by itself lead to instant removal of landlessness and assetlessness. It may not promote better employment and wages. It may not automatically ensure all the indicators of a good quality of life.
But functional literacy does produce a myriad of effects cognitive, affective and structural which are a necessary precondition for development. It does foster an expansion of the individual's mental processes leading to an affirmation of self. The personal expectations of functionally literate people get expanded, self confidence, self-efficacy and self image get boosted and new skills are acquired which can induce changes in economic and power relationships. A sense of individual and collective empowerment is generated which can be sustained through literacy.
In regard to (a) it can be stated that adult education programme under NLM is being implemented in close linkage with measures for promoting individual's development such as health, nutrition and immunisation. These are reflected both in the content and process of adult education.
In regard to (b), this constitutes the basic thrust in the strategy of total literacy campaigns which through a series of environment building efforts seek to generate a positive
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demand of the people for literacy and provide a delivery mechanism for literacy thereafter.
Summary The sequencing of when literacy should come is artificial .
It is riot correct to say that adult literacy as an activity should be implemented only after creation of an awareness for essential needs. Adult literacy programme, if properly implemented, may itself lead to creation of awareness for essential needs.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 179 Mass campaign strategy is not new; it has been successfully tried out in countries like Burma, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, USSR, Ethiopia, Tanzania and China. In India it has also been successfully tried out in Ernakulam, whole of Kerala State, Pondicherry, Burdwan (in West Bengal) and its soundness as a strategy is already established beyond doubt. There is no further need for experimentation; mass campaigns for total literacy as a matter of fact constitute our principal strategy in NLM today. They are area-specific, time bound, volunteer based, cost-effective and result- oriented. Considering the vast magnitude of the problem of illiteracy in India, shortage of resources and limited time at our disposal and keeping in view the rich tradition of voluntarism, this appears to be the single most effective strategy which can yield results in a short time.
Mahila Samakhya like several other schemes, programmes and agencies is a valuable input in the mass campaigns for total literacy. Mahila Samakhya essentially implies creating a structure and system which will enable women to come together, discuss together, share the experiences of their life, to identify their strength and weaknesses, to think, critically reflect and analyse the factors responsible for their discrimination and to find a wherewithal to overcome them. In a number of districts where mass campaigns for total literacy
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have been launched and where 'mahila samakhya' is also in existence, the 2 have worked in close and symbiotic relationship with each other. Mahila Samakhya functionaries have provided support for environment building, provision of technical resource support including training etc.
Summary : It is not correct to say that Mahila Samakhya is an alternative model to mass campaigns for total literacy. Mahila Samakhya and mass campaigns for total literacy can support and supplement each other for furtherance of common objectives i. e.eradication of female illiteracy and women's empowerment.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 180 & 182 Local level evaluation is inbuilt in every literacy project in National Literacy Mission and more so in mass campaigns for total literacy. Such evaluation is two fold in character namely, 'formative' and 'summative'. The formative evaluation commences right from the stage of formulation of action plan and its implementation at various stages; while the summative evaluation deals with evaluation of learning outcome at different stages and teaching learning process as also with the impact of the programme on acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills and on the overall quality of life of the learner. Such evaluation, in addition to being a tool of assessment and review of the status of the project could also be a supportive tool to introduce correctives to improve the quality and content of the programme.
The NLM and TLC strategy envisage rigorous evaluation through institutions of social science research and management, voluntary agencies and other expert bodies. Additionally, teams of adult educators, management experts, evaluation experts, media and communication experts have bee identified to visit TLC districts by pledging the solidarity and support of NLM, for fact finding, overseeing and for application of mid-course correction.
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The Mahila Samakhya programme is also being evaluated with reference to its objectives. One such study was commissioned in March, 1990 with extremely encouraging results and the second evaluation is going to be commissioned in September, 1991.
In the light of the facts as stated above, establishment of any further independent study group is not considered necessary.
Summary: The approach to evaluation as indicated in the NPE Review Report is somewhat narrow and restricted while the approach to NLM and TLC is more broadbased, positive and correctional.
Evaluation is an ongoing process and is perceived as a tool of planning as well, as continuous reform in the quality and content of a programme and, therefore, one need not wait for 5 years for changing a model if correctives could be introduced much earlier.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 181 As has been observed earlier, literacy is an important entry point to education. It provides the access to the world of letters and through that access to the wider world of information, communication, modernisation, innovation and skills. There is no terminal point in literacy in as much as it goes on getting refined and sharpened, enriched and upgraded till it becomes an effective entry point. It is indeed a lifelong process. It is only after acquisition of functional literacy status that an individual can articulate his/her preferences, felt needs and interests and can secure them through a better participation in the affairs of the family, of the community, of the society and the nation.
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Thus there is no conflict between demand for literacy and matters related to fundamental right, social justice etc. The two will have to be viewed in congruence rather than in conflict. The thrust of the NPE as well as NLM is on coordination, mobilisation, synergy and harmony and not conflict.
Summary The observation made by the NPE Review Report is rather restrictive.
The demand for literacy is an inalienable fundamental human right. A democratic society has to be a participative one and a participative has to be necessarily literate.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 183 While provision of vocational training of all persons is desirable our effort should be to relate literacy to such training wherever possible. The strategy envisaged in NLM in this direction is two- fold. To start with, the Jana Shikshan Nilayams (People's Centres for Learning) have also been visualised as centres where simple and short duration training programmes in agriculture, animal husbandry, veterinary, soil conservation, fishery, seri-culture, science and technology etc. can be conducted by functionaries drawn from the respective development departments. Secondly, there is close consultation and coordination with the departments of rural development and Ministry of Labour for organising programmes of vocational skills for adult learners. The need for pooling resources from a variety of sources such as TRYSEM (Training for Youth for Self Employment), DWACRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) and community polytechnics and integrating them imaginatively and skillfully is being continuously impressed on them. Within the Department of Education, liaison and coordination is being maintained with the bureaus handling vocational and community polytechnics.
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Summary The suggestion of the NPE Review Report is welcome and necessary action is already being initiated within the framework of NLM.
RECOMMENDATION NO.184 The recommendation of the NPE Review Committee has already been given effect to by institutionalisation of postliteracy and continuing education through the framework of Jana Shikshan Nilayams, rural libraries and reading rooms etc. In the JSN there is a provision of supply of newspapers, journals, periodicals and other innovative materials which are of direct interest to the needs of the neo- literates. A good number of titles have already been designed by the Directorate of Adult Education, National Book Trust, State Resource Centres, Voluntary Agencies. A system of mobile library (in which the Prerak of JSN moves on a bicycle to distribute books and other print materials and to establish live contact with neo-literates) for wider dissemination of. materials has also been introduced. The overall emphasis is on upgrading and reinforcing the skills acquired at the basic literacy stage and to enable the neo-literates to have an easy and effective access to the world of information and communication to continuously develop and upgrade their reading habits with a view to preventing their relapse into illiteracy.