Literacy as the Key to the Transformation of the Individual, Family and Society
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in his message for International Literacy Day on September 8, 2004, stated that literacy is not only a goal in itself, it is a prerequisite for a healthy, just and prosperous world. He further stated that, equally, literacy is a human right, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Literacy is more than just a basic human right. It is a key tool for individuals to transform their lives, their families and the whole of society. Literacy gives access to knowledge and skills required for physical, intellectual, socio-economic and spiritual development.
At the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, Indore, literacy is one of the major components of the programme for empowering rural and tribal women. Basic literacy in Hindi enables these women to understand themselves and the world.
Leela Bhati lost her parents when she was a young child. Working as a dishwasher in order to help support her brothers, she was not able to go to school. Completely illiterate, she came to the Institute to learn to sew but had no interest in reading or writing. She completed the 3-month course and started working in the Institute garden. She sent money for her younger brother’s education. Eventually she realized that she could not continue to progress without being able to read and write and she worked hard to learn. She became a literacy and vocational trainer in 1990 and later passed the cutting and tailoring exam. She learned to ride a bicycle and uses it daily to get to and from work. She enjoys filming, giving slide shows and handling microphones. She lives with her husband as an equal partner. She handles all of her personal banking. She helps in the development of training materials in her subjects. She is honest, hardworking and committed.
Dhedi was a fifth class school drop-out from Ojhad, a remote tribal village in Jhabua District about 200 kilometres from Indore. Learning how to operate a pedal-powered sewing machine was the fulfillment of her dream. Learning to read and write at the same time was an unforeseen benefit that she soon realized could prove just as valuable. Dhedi, who took training in 1990, explained, “When people bring cloth to me for stitching, I can write their names and measurements.”
In September 1990, Dhedi and another formerly illiterate trainee competed against 500 newly literate people from 33 other organizations in India at a song-writing competition sponsored by UNESCO in New Delhi. Their song, highlighting the benefits of literacy and set to a traditional tribal melody, won first prize.
Since then Dhedi has continued to learn, grow and use her skills to help others. She is a health trainer at the Institute and has been helping to write, edit and format the health curriculum, prepare transparencies and conduct training for Panches and Sarpanches in local dialects. She has passed her cutting and tailoring and 10th standard exams. With the help of her husband, she supports her younger brother’s education. At the South Asia Conference on the Girl Child, held in Delhi, she gave a power point presentation narrating her story as an example of how the potentials of girls can be developed. She said “I did not know anything when I came to the Institute. I always thought that I would not be able to handle computers.” Looking at Dhedi today, confidently using a laptop, preparing presentations for international conferences and, most importantly, teaching others the skills that she has learned, it’s hard to imagine her as the shy illiterate girl that she was when she first arrived at the Institute.
The Institute has successfully trained 1700 women like Dhedi and Leela. It conducts 6-month courses for illiterates and 1-year courses for school dropouts.Training is interactive and participatory. The lessons are designed to be easily understandable, using examples from the lives of the trainees. They incorporate theme songs, games, stories and role-playing so that they are more interesting, motivating and easy to remember. The trainees learn to read, write and understand simple forms, notices, messages, letters, signs, books, basic arithmetic, and measurements of length, weight and time. In addition to regular literacy classes, all of the subjects provide the opportunity to practice reading and writing. In gardening they learn to count and name the tools, trees, fruits, vegetables and to weigh them. In health they learn to write the names, preventions and treatments of different diseases and to take body weight and height. They learn to understand and record time for immunisations and for pre/ post-natal care. They also use literacy to measure cloth, write the name of the person for whom the garment is being made and to make patterns. They learn to write receipts, calculate stock, estimate costs, count cash, give change and apply for loans.They also learn about the need and importance of gender equality, love, peace, unity, education, freedom from prejudices, service to community, obeying the law and conserving natural resources.Most of the trainees come as illiterates but 90% are able to pass National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) vocational theory and practical exams at the end of the six-month course.
To prevent them from falling back into illiteracy, the trainees are encouraged to write postcards to the Institute. Updates from the graduates and educational messages are published in a regular newsletter, "Kokila", which has been sent to all the graduates since 1993.
Literacy provides the trainees with a foundation to generate, apply and diffuse knowledge at the individual, family and community levels. The Institute’s curriculum is based on the understanding that development must start from the grassroots level. It needs to come from the people who have suffered from a lack of educational resources and understand what it means to be cut off from important knowledge, information and skills.
The trainees learn that they are equal members of society and that they have the power to transform their communities. Many have gone home and encouraged more children to go to school, have spread awareness about health, hygiene and the environment, and have motivated men to stop drinking and beating their wives. They have worked to eradicate guinea worms in Jhabua District. They have begun to break down the barriers of caste and class and have initiated the process of development based on the specific needs of their communities.
Using a holistic approach that interweaves literacy with the environment, health and hygiene, personal and community development and vocational skills, the Institute is moving forward. As envisioned by Kofi Annan, it is using literacy as a key tool to translate into reality the Millennium Development Goals established by the UN.