School at 60

THE last thing Kankuben Chauhan had thought of doing at 60-plus was learning the Gujarati alphabet, that too on a computer. But for the past many nights, she has been sitting with a group of woman neighbours from Chandaben-ni-chali in Bapunagar, staring into the flickering screen, following instructions and earnestly attempting to learn.

Lessons between 9 and 10 pm, a small room, adults instead of children as students, a computer in place of a blackboard and a guide instead of a teacher8212;this is anything but a traditional school. So are its surroundings: 300 households of daily wagers, who do not have regular drinking water supply or even street lights.

But after Tata Consultancy Services provided them the software for adult education, Sneh Prayas, a local NGO, chose to launch its adult literacy programme here in Bapunagar in September. Now it plans to install more computers8212;at the moment there8217;s only one, since one is under repair8212;and also introduce the programme in its other five centres in the city and in 36 villages in the Kutch.

8216;8216;The outcome has been quite satisfying. In fact, there are women waiting to join the class, but we can include them only after installing more computers,8217;8217; says Rajiv Kumar, project coordinator of Sneh Prayas.

The NGO zeroed in on 12 women for its first batch8212;the youngest being 15 and the oldest 708212;after realising that while most men could at least read and write, several women could not sign even their names. But things did not fall into place immediately, poor attendance being the major drawback.

8216;8216;That8217;s why it took us three months to complete a two-month course,8217;8217; says Ramila Parmar, who guides the group. 8216;8216;Now we insist on regular attendance and things are finally settling down.8217;8217;

The discipline is paying off for 15-year-old Hetal. 8216;8216;I never went to school and always wanted to learn to read and write. Now, I can identify certain letters and can also make attempts to read,8217;8217; she says.

The user-friendly software developed by TCS is divided into two parts, each with 20 lessons. 8216;8216;It8217;s easy to understand, and interesting to boot. Most of us had never seen a computer, in fact, some of us hadn8217;t even heard about it,8217;8217; giggles Maluben Parghi, a senior citizen student.

Now, they are learning to use the computer alongside the alphabet. 8216;8216;Rather than teach them the alphabet directly, the programme helps them identify letters in words they use in their daily lives,8217;8217; says Kumar.

Alongside the students8217;, the initiative has caught the imagination of the corporates as well. The State Bank of India recently donated eight more computers, three new and five used, to the NGO. 8216;8216;We plan to install these at our city centres for the programme and also to teach underprivileged children, a programme we run in the day-time,8217;8217; says Kumar.

With more donations lined up, the organisation also plans to move into the rural centres. 8216;8216;In urban areas, the illiteracy is high among women but in rural areas it is as bad with men. Hence we plan to initiate the programme at the earliest in the rural areas,8217;8217; adds Kumar.