The dream of 100% literacy
Last month our Chief Minister announced that
Andhra Pradesh would achieve 100% literacy by the year 2020. This is an
important objective, because our state has not been doing well on the literacy
front. Here are some sobering figures. The national average literacy rate is
74%. The southern states, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have literacy rate
of 93.91%, 75.6% and 80.33 respectively. In comparison the literacy rate in
Andhra Pradesh is a mere 67.41% and in Telengana it is 66.5%.
Educational
infrastructure is improving
The primary schools in our Agency Areas such as
Araku, Paderu and Chintapalli are run by the Integrated Tribal Development
Authority (ITDA) based in Paderu. Over the past many years the government has
been injecting substantial financial resources into the area to build up
infrastructure such as school buildings, roads, health, electricity and water
supply. Even though we have the physical
infrastructure in place we are unable to deliver quality education.
Where is
the problem?
Unlike urban areas there is no pre-school,
playschool or kindergarten schooling concept in these tribal areas. So these
children get their first chance to learn to read and write in small village school
when they are around five. By the time they are in 3rd standard and
around 8 years old, one would expect them to be literate. But the fact is 80%
of these children cannot read and write rudimentary sentences in any language. The
adivasi literacy rate in Andhra Pradesh is a miserable 17.16%. If you drill down further we discover that the
men have a 25.25% literacy rate whereas women are way down there with a
shocking 8.68%! These dismal literacy figures are bound to drag down the
state’s average literacy rate. These figures indicate that the area that must
be tackled first is the teaching of primary classes.
Lack of teachers
impacts literacy and society
The simple fact is that in most schools have
inadequate teachers. Available teachers are allocated to the higher classes.
Consequently there are no teachers to spare for the primary classes. The kids
just sit in the class all day doing absolutely nothing. In fact no teacher even
steps into many of these classes in weeks. Due to restrictions on who is
eligible to apply for teaching positions and the tardy recruitment process, the
quality of teachers that are actually recruited are inadequate. Very few have
the knowhow, teaching skills or motivation required to teach any class; issues
that can be solved by quality training. The ones who suffer most are the tribal
children. In the years that they are most receptive to learning they have no
one to teach them. By the time these children come to middle school they are
not prepared for that stage of their education. As there is no system of
failing students, they keep progressing to higher and higher classes until they
come to board exams where they hit a brick wall and drop out. They then return
to their villages neither fit to face the challenges of the outside world nor
accustomed to the traditional occupations in their village. No wonder then that
89% of the Adivasis are living under the poverty line.
Why don’t
we have teachers?
Some may think that we do not get enough teachers
because they are not paid well. The fact is that the wages are more than fair.
Senior principals get around Rs. 80,000 a month and teachers pull in anywhere
between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 40,000 a month. Even the non-teaching staffs such as
wardens, cooks and assistants are all paid handsome wages. In addition most
enjoy assorted unofficial perks. Is the work hard? In tribal areas these
positions are not too challenging, plenty of holidays, nice environment and no
one breathing down their necks. Considering all this the only reason why the
positions are not being filled appears to be insufficient government funding.
Can we do
more with less?
Due to the state’s frail financial health, funds
are not available for recruiting adequate teachers. Considering this problem some
temporary solutions must be considered. We know that few people can have a huge impact
on many when they are committed to a cause. Therefore we can start with
recruiting a handful of self-motivated teachers for all the important girls’
schools in the area. One inspired teacher can do the work of many and influence
a others to do better. Existing teachers, who have become jaded over time, will
need a few session of professional motivational training to improve their
attitude and enhance their productivity.
Pertinent
curriculum
Very few tribal youth, especially girls, leave
home to pursue careers in the cities. Therefore their curriculum must be
tweaked to equip them with the skills that they will need in life. While it is
most important that they be proficient in reading and writing, it is also
important that they acquire the life skills and knowledge that they will need to
enrich their villages. Skills like animal husbandry, new trends in agriculture
and forestry, environmental protection, math, home economics, basic science, health
and personal hygiene. They should learn local crafts and arts to keep their cultural
heritage alive. It would help greatly tribal boys and girls to learn some basic
carpentry, plumbing, civil and electrical works at an early age so they can be
useful to their family and their village. As they grow up they must know how
their local government works and how to communicate with their local
administration. They should understand their rights and responsibilities as
Adivasis and citizens of India. Acquiring these skills will dramatically
empower them and change the economies of their villages and the state will
benefit from it.
Putting the fun back
into learning
Sadly these tribal children have never seen a book other than
their school text book, do not know that the earth is a globe, never visited a
lab, have never used crayons or colour pencils or played games that are
synonymous with childhood and primary schooling anywhere in the world. They can be a teacher’s delight because they
listen to all things new with wide-eyed rapt attention. It is common knowledge
that children learn best with play and satisfy their curiosity with books. Alternate
methods of teaching such as the Waldorf system that depends on activities and
play to teach have a huge impact on children and must be adapted by all tribal
schools. This system has already been used by dedicated NGOs in the tribal
areas successfully and there are enough teachers and volunteers familiar with
these methods.
Volunteerism,
technology and innovation
There are hundreds of retired and semi-retired
men and women, in India and abroad who would welcome the opportunity to teach
in our tribal areas on a volunteer basis. All that the ITDA needs to do is make a policy
that embraces volunteerism and provides meals, basic accommodations and toilets
for volunteers. Imparting quality education can be made more affordable by
using technology. By ensuring that the
important schools are connected with broadband volunteers in cities can
actually teach over the net. This will have limited application for now but when
the broadband links become more robust it can be used more extensively to
deliver digital content. This initiative will become a proving ground for telecommunications;
pave the way for introducing technology into our rural areas and a possibility
of myriad spin-offs across other sectors. If our dreams of 100% literacy in
five years are to be realized we must make a 100% innovative efforts today.
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