BENGALURU: Experts are of the opinion that the central government’s New India Literacy Programme (scheme for adult education) aimed at educating 5 crore adults by 2027 will only work if the students, educators and stakeholders involved are properly guided. They recalled that similar initiatives launched earlier have failed to drawbacks in implementation.
Recently, the Rotary India Literacy Mission (RILM) launched a programme in Bengaluru, initiating the Adult Literacy Programme at the state level. Around 8,000 private Karnataka schools were taken on board the mission in association with the Private Schools and Children Welfare Association (PSCWA).
A Bengaluru-based educationist, D Shashi Kumar said that he was not aware of the initiative. Unless the stakeholders are made aware of the initiatives, the scheme will continue to suffer from faulty implementation. Speaking about the previous initiatives, “Each One-Teach One” and “Each One-Teach Many”, he said that the initiatives were not able to gain momentum and reach the masses although they were good.
H Rajendra Pai from Rotary International District 3190 said that the Rotary’s initiative for total literacy and quality education, the TEACH programme began in 2014 to improve adult literacy and quality education. But it did not succeed due to logistical issues. So far, 88,005 adults have received literacy certificates under the programme in eight years. Pai explained that travelling became one of the issues for students and teaching people in remote areas. Hence, students were irregular in interacting with adults which led to its failure.
With the new initiative by Rotary International, students from Class 6 to 10 are supposed to educate an adult illiterate for three months, which will be a part of their school project. Shashi Kumar also explained that since the students are also learning, the teachers must ensure that they properly imbibe teaching skills to be able to deliver results. The project is huge and needs large-scale involvement from society to ensure people are committed to achieving the goals.