 ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMME

The goals of our development are growth with social justice, moderni- sation with self*reliance, transfer of technology to rural areas with creation of scientific temper among the masses and building up of faith in the one's own ability to change rather than be dependent on fate. In this context, Adult Education is seen as an instrument of galvanizing and mobilising the people, arousing community conscious- ness and community participation for brining about social change. An overview of the situation reveals that though there has been the realisation for several decades, that adult literacy per se is not enough and it has to be an integral part of the developmental process, this realisation had yet to materialise in activities and programmes in an adequate measure.

2. During the Sixth Five Year Plan, adult education was included as part of the Minimum Needs Programmes and a goal of reaching 100% literacy by 1990 in the age group 15*35 was visualised and further reaffirmed in the New 20*Point Programme accepted by the Nation. The mid*term appraisal of the Sixth Plan revealed that a balanced strategy of educational planning with the long*range goal of making available diverse networks of facilities and programmes for education, combining formal and non*formal modes of learning to enable all citizens to acquire literacy, numerary, computational skills, basic understanding of the surrounding world and functional skills of relevance in daily life and to local environment were being attempted. It also emphasised that planning effort should shift from provision of inputs and expan- sion of facilities in general terms, to results to be achieved and tasks to be performed with specific reference to target groups of population particularly the socially*disadvantaged. While no physical targets were laid down, Adult Education Programme was to be developed on a large scale for the age*group 15 to 35 to combat the problem of illiteracy. The programme was guided by the following parameters during the Sixth Plan:

- Coverage of the districts having literacy rate below the national average.

- accord priority to the women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, migrant labourers and other weaker sections of the society, to improve their literacy position;

- enlist larger participation of student;

- provide grants*in*aid to voluntary organisations working in the field of adult education and which have no communal leanings;

- strengthen the post*literacy programme to avoid lapses into illit- eracy of the new*literates; and

- utilise the potential of electronic and fold media for motivational purposes.

Achievements during the Sixth Plan period, taking into account the overall enrolments as the basis, are not likely to exceed 230 lakhs which leaves a balance of nearly 870 lakhs persons out of the entire estimated illiterate population of 1100 lakhs in 15*35 age group to be covered during the Seventh five Year Plan.

3. An appraisal of the implementation of the programme during the Sixth Plan indicated considerable progress, yet there are certain areas which require special attention. There is need for substantial stepping up of the level of performance under the Adult Education programme which requires substantial increase in the coverage as well as improvement in the quality of the programme. Special efforts are needed to strengthen post*literacy follow*up, ensure greater involve- ment of women, establish linkages with developmental agencies, promote larger use of mass media for literacy and involve students and volun- tary agencies on a more extensive scale. The necessity for involving the community in organisation of literacy programme and mobilisation of community resources to meet the requirements of the expanded pro- gramme require special emphasis.

New design for Adult Education and Strategy for implementation

4. To achieve the objective of removal of illiteracy in the age-group 15-35 by 1990 a policy decision relating to the new design for adult education, based on the recommendations made in the Report of the Working Group would be called for. Some of the major recommendations made in the report of the Working Group are enumerated below:

(i) Adult Education should be viewed as an integral component in all development programmes not merely for propagation of literacy and numeracy as ends in themselves but with a view to improving the vi- ability of the relevant development programmes and increasing their functional relevance.

(ii) Improvement of levels of literacy can not and should not be viewed as the concern of the Ministry of Education only. All develop- ment Ministries/Departments should be assisted to promote literacy through appropriate development schemes. The development Ministries/Departments may also be required to earmark a certain percentage of their budget for adult education which should be uti- lised primarily to raise the levels of literacy of their beneficiaries and provide opportunities to them for acquiring new skills.

(iii) All major employers in organised and semi-organised sectors should be under an obligation to promote literacy and functional education for their employees at or near the places of their work. Suitable legislation may be enacted if considered necessary for the purpose to make it an obligation under law on the part of the employ- ers to provide to their workers opportunities to acquire literacy and

upgrade their skills for which at least one hour should be set apart without any corresponding loss of wages.

(iv) All employers in the private sector should be required to earmark adequate funds for promoting literacy activities and upgradation of skills of illiterate employees in their respective organisations.

(v) With a view to secure wider involvement of youth in the national effort to eradicate illiteracy it should be made obligatory for stu- dents under the NSS and non-student youth under NYKs to participate in the Adult Education programme either for conducting adult education classes or for providing motivation or assisting post-literacy follow up activities.

(vi) As women constitute more than 63 per cent of the illiterate population in the age-group 15-35, industrial licencing rules and regulations for contractors should be amended to provide for some obligation on the part of the employers to ensure that all illiterate women workers employed by them particularly on construction work are made literate, if need by, by setting apart one additional hour where literacy and numeracy skills could be imparted.

(vii) All development programmes in the Government sector should be required to earmark suitable funds in their budget for imparting literacy to women workers and improve the level of their skills.

(viii) In addition to the establishment of meaningful linkages between adult education programmes and other development programmes which is indeed the sine qua non for successful implementation of adult educa- tion programmes, all relevant programmes within the Education Sector itself, promoting adult education, early school education, non- formal education should be so integrated that the illiterate population in the age group 9-14 and 15-35 could take fullest advantage of pro- grammes of adult and non-formal education. Similarly premises of existing educational institutions in the formal sector of education, could be utilised to promote literacy activities during out-of-school hours.

5. The basic issues as may be relevant to the implementation strategy in respect of adult education during the Seventh Plan, relate to motivation of adult illiterates and organisation of adult education programmes on a mass scale. As regards motivation the Working Group has suggested the following strategies.

a) the educational component in all developmental activities like IRDP, NREP, etc. should be identified and adequately strengthened, and the learning material for illiterates and neo-literates could be suitably designed taking into account, the needs of the specific learning groups.

b) with a view to provide need-based literacy for different categories of learners, literacy with emphasis on development of appropriate skills and functional education shall be an element in all development programmes for workers both in organised and unorganised sector.

c) in the adult education programmes to be implemented under RFILP, SAEP, voluntary organisations, universities etc., short duration courses for upgradation of skills should be provided and participation of learners through group motivation needs to be ensured.

6. As regards organisation of adult education programmes on amass scale, in addition to substantial expansion under existing schemes of RFLP, SAEP, assistance to voluntary organisations, NSS and NYKs, efforts will have to be supplemented by similar programmes to be taken up through other organisations and agencies namely, industries, estab- lishments, mines, factories, etc. Keeping in view the national commit- ment to achieve eradication of illiteracy by 1990, each department/organisation should be required to identify the number of illiterate workers in their organisations and should be assigned targets to promote eradication of illiteracy in a phased manner to be achieved by 1990. To give the programme the momentum of a mass move- ment, plans for eradication of illiteracy should be formulated at the district level, block level an village level. Micro level planning should provide for community participation in all literacy programmes from village level upwards to lend effective support to the national programme for removal of illiteracy and create a climate for literacy in the country.

7. To translate the new design as outlined above, into a realistic framework comprising multi-pronged attack on illiteracy and multi level strategies, the following measures have been promoted for imple- mentation of the Adult Education Programme during the next five year period i.e. 1985-90.

a) Support of all the sections of community will be obtained in imple- menting the programme specially at the local level by creating village level committees or area level committees. The local leaders would be involved in actual management of the adult education centres and they would also be involved in supervising the functioning of the pro- gramme. The institutions like Panchayats, political parties and other local self-government bodies would be encouraged to take up the pro- gramme by provision of technical support in the form of materials and training of their workers. Before starting the programme, pre-opera- tional campaigns would be organised to create a favourable climate for the programme and raise the awareness of the local people about the advantages from it.

b) As mentioned earlier linkages with the development departments and other agencies will be strengthened by identifying those schemes where literacy can be an important input and they will be persuaded to take up programmes of adult education for their illiterate beneficiaries. They will also be expected to indicate

the targets of illiterate employees which they would cover each year through their own literacy/adult education programmes. Activitization of coordination committees having the representatives of development departments and adult education people would be done so that the programme gets the needed direction. The developmental agencies will be assisted in the training programmes organised by them so that the component of adult education also is covered and the trainees are acquainted with the techniques and methods of promotion of adult literacy. Appropriate measures will be taken to see that there is greater obligation on the part of the employers to provide education/literacy to their illiterate employees and that time so spent by them is accounted for as duty period. Further agencies like Central Board of Workers Education would be expected to take up pro- gramme on a bigger scale for imparting literacy to the workers in the organised sector. Within the education system also positive linkages will be developed with the formal system existing facilities of school buildings and other facilities would be utilised for the purpose.

c) The programme will be directed to bridge the disparities in litera- cy rates among women, SCs and STs, and for this purpose a specific district plan would be necessary to be prepared indicating village- wise information of number of illiterate women, SCs and STs population which will have to be covered through the programme. In the prepara- tion of he district plan, identification of agencies which could take up the programme in the respective areas would also be indicated. A special legislation would be necessary to be introduced to safeguard the education rights of the illiterates employed in industries so that they could be provided education without losing their wages and set- ting this benefit at the place of work and during the duty hours. Similarly the industrial licensing rules and regulations for contrac- tors will be appropriately amended to lay down the duty of the employ- er to see that all women workers employed by them are made literate and they are not at financial loss for attending the literacy centres. Other Ministries and Departments having schemes for rural development, employment, training etc. like the IRDP, NREP, DWCRA, TRYSEM, ICDS would be expected to similarly organise literacy programmes for their women beneficiaries and they would be expected to earmark some funds in their budget for imparting literacy to women. Influential women in the areas where adult education centres are to be organised for women will be identified and given training so that they could bring their influence in increasing women's participation in the programme. At the State level a special cell is proposed to be created to monitor the progress of implementation of literacy programmes of women. This cell will also be responsible for coordinating the activities of planning the programme for women, ensuring relevant and need based learning materials for use at the adult education centres after getting them prepared by the State Resource Centres and other similar agencies and also for ensuring post- literacy activities by involving writers, poets and dramatists who could prepare neo-literate literature.

As far as SGs and STs are concerned, it is necessary to ensure that lack of provision of funds does not become a problem in securing their participation. Therefore, Central Government Departments, State Gov- ernments, Voluntary Agencies, Universities and Colleges, would be expected to earmark special funds for their coverage. Special drives will be undertaken to train the instructors belonging to SGs and STs groups and literacy content would be so designed as to encourage the SGs, STs to take advantage of these programmes. Existing institutions like Tribal Orientation Study Centres, Tribal Research Institutes would be involved in planning and providing technical inputs necessary for the adult education centres attended largely by SGs and STs groups.

d) Provision of non-literacy inputs at the adult education centres would be made in the form of short duration programmes having the potential of income generation and the agencies engaged in providing developmental services would be involved in this. Besides net-work of guidance and counselling services will be provided to the rural poor by the NSS volunteers, NYK Coordinators, Voluntary Agencies and other mass based organisations.

e) Larger involvement of voluntary agencies is envisaged so that they can perform leadership roles not only in implementing the projects but also in organising training programmes for adult education workers and for preparation of materials both for literacy and post-literacy stages. The voluntary agencies henceforth will have greater flexibili- ty in designing and implementing the projects. Those agencies which are involved in the upliftment of women, Scheduled Castes and Sched- uled Tribes will be given preference in matters of financial assist- ance. Its is also visualised that the performance of the agencies will also be encouraged to undertake pre-operational surveys for identify- ing the needs of the learners and preparing need-based material for which they will be financially assisted. They will also be entitled to get funds for providing non-literacy inputs. These additional features are expected to encourage the voluntary agencies to implement the programme in a more meaningful manner. Speedier disposal of cases of voluntary agencies for financial assistance will be done so that the difficulties faced on account of late receipt of funds do not persist.

f) Concerted efforts will be made to involve students and non-student youths on a wider scale in mass campaigns for adult education pro- gramme as part of the National Services Schemes, NCC, and, Continuing and Extension education Programme. They will also provide counselling and guidance services to adult learners and help in organisation of post literacy and follow-up activities. The potentialities of Nehru Yuvak kendras in organising cultural and social programmes for the rural folk will be utilised on a bigger scale for promotion of adult education and they will be expected to organise adult education cen- tres also.

g) Lack of provision of post-literacy and follow-up services has been one the draw-backs in the organisation of the literacy programme in the past. This short-coming is being eliminated through creation of such facilities as part of the project design. Village Continuing Education Centres and rural libraries will be established for produc- tion and distribution of literature for non-literates. Short duration training programmes and condensed courses will also be organised for up-grading the skills of the non-literates and for raising their awareness on various social aspects. Among the areas for skill up- gradation, priority will be accorded to agricultural technology, including construction of wells, operation and repair of pumps, food storage, use of improved agricultural practices, bio-gas plants, solar energy, poultry farming, piggery, sericulture, fishing, carpet weav- ing, health, sanitation, family welfare, improved cooking methods, water purification, methods of birth control, use of smokeless chul- lah, etc. They will also be exposed to population education, civic rights and duties as well as citizenship education through greater use of press and mass-media and will be provided general education on various scientific and natural phenomenon. Through the provision of facilities for continuing education opportunity will be made available to the learners to re-enter into the formal system if they so desire. They will also be educated through use of recreation and entertainment by use of mass media and folk forms of culture. Attempts will be made to see that some equivalence of the attainments in literacy and post- literacy stages is established with the formal system of education so that there is a possibility of a person joining from one system to the other at his or her convenience.

h) One of the factors associated with the poor performance of adult education programme has been lack of motivation with the learners first of all to attend the programme and, secondly, to continue with it till its completion. this problem is intended to be tackled by providing incentives and encouragement to the learners by honouring them in public functions and giving them preference in provision of loans and other inputs. Feasibility of giving them preference in employment will also be examined. In addition, special income generat- ing activities to be organised at adult education centres are expected to provide them sufficient motivation for continued participation at AECs.