Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

About 70 volunteer teachers were engaged for 70 classes by Goalpara Zilla Saksharata Abhijan Samiti.Each volunteer taught around 10-15 learners. Most of the learners were women.The volunteer teacher-learner approach has another advantage over a fixed class room method. As adultlearners, each person’s pace will be different. With a smaller group, the volunteer teacher can monitor anindividual’s progress better and go forward without the slow learner feeling disadvantaged.Literacy Teaching Plan and MethodsThe first phase of literacy programmes aims to eradicate illiteracy. Thusfar, the adult learners have becomeliterate in their mother tongue. In the next post-literacy phase, the Rabha language neo-literates willbegin learning Assamese. Bilingual primers in Rabha–Assamese are in the process of development. Thelearners will also be given supplementary bilingual reading materials.As mentioned above, the word method is being used throughout the project. For example, the teacherpoints to the illustration alongside the first lesson. It shows a house in a rural setting with a kitchengarden and poultry. There is a man working with tools and children are playing. The teacher asks thelearner to identify the things that he/she can say the target language. From the words, the alphabeticalspellings are identified.Networking with Other OrganizationsThe success of the project has depended on good networking. SRC Assam has been collaborating withGauhati University and the Rabha Literacy Society for the materials production process. The actual surveyof illiterates was done by GZSS, which also identified the volunteer teachers. The training was done bySRC Assam. The monitoring meeting was jointly overseen by Goalpara Zila Saksharata Abhijan Samiti,SRC Assam and Prochesta, another NGO working for promotion of micro-finance among rural women.Political will is needed for successful implementation of literacy and bilingual education. In the recentlyconcluded state election, some of the political parties stressed this point in their election manifestos.Cost of the ProjectThe actual cost of the project must include the value ofpeople’s participation. In this project, the money spentdoes not include this amount. In most cases, when thecost of a project is calculated, this value of people’sparticipation is never taken into account. Obviously, aproject cannot be successfully implemented withoutthe good will and the participation of the people.In our project area, more than 5,000 illiterates wereidentified during the survey. SRC Assam provided thefirst thousand copies of primers I, II and III under the© State Resource Centre Assamproject. Later, because of demand from the Rabhacommunity, the chairman of the Goalpara DistrictLiteracy Society requested funds from UNESCO to print 5,000 additional copies. UNESCO granted thisrequest, and the printing is currently underway.[ 102 ]