The actual per book cost <strong>of</strong> the primers comes to Rs. 12 (Indian Rupee), <strong>based</strong> on a print-run <strong>of</strong> 5,000 ormore copies. For project purposes only, 1,000 copies each were printed for primers I, II and III. This madethe cost per primer Rs. 25 (Indian Rupee).Impact <strong>of</strong> the ProjectImpact on Education PolicySince this project was begun, mother tongue education has received its due recognition within nationaleducation policy. This has been reflected in a revised curriculum framework at the national level.Impact on Learner ParticipationMost <strong>of</strong> the learners were women. The whole process<strong>of</strong> learning was new to them. They were eager to learn.The fact that they could select their own time to studywith people with whom they were familiar helped. Thevolunteer teachers reported a sense <strong>of</strong> pride in doingsomething for the community. The learners were ableto identify themselves with the project.There are many examples <strong>of</strong> learners valuing the Rabhalanguage they received. An interesting story is that <strong>of</strong>Dipti Rabha. Dipti belonged to a Pati Rabha group thathas adopted Assamese as its mother tongue. The PatiRabhas have forgotten the Rabha language. However,Dipti was married to a man from a family who are Rabhalanguage speakers. So, in order to communicate withher family and community, she joined a Rabha literacyclass. Today she is a fluent Rabha language speaker.© State Resource Centre AssamAnother learner, Bharati Rabha, who is about 35 yearsold, says, “All my life I wanted to read and write in mymother tongue. I could not speak the language, but Ican read and write, and this makes me proud.”The volunteer teachers (VIs) also feel proud to beable to do something for the community. Arati BalaRabha says, “It was a pleasure to teach my group <strong>of</strong>10 learners because <strong>of</strong> their interest and enthusiasm. © State Resource Centre AssamI used to take the class in the afternoon after the dailyclasses were done, and <strong>of</strong>ten found that they were waiting for me before time, after taking care <strong>of</strong> alltheir work.” To which, a learner, Tulani Rabha replied, “My husband is not keen on my coming to attendclasses, as it upsets the household routine at times. But he cannot stop me. I managed to have my wayand attend classes regularly.”[ 103 ]
The majority <strong>of</strong> the learners have completed the first three primers and want more books to read. Asthere is no library, they have requested project organizers to provide them with reading materials. AKarabi Rabha says, “You have taught us to read, so now give us more books like story books and otherbooks.”Capacity to Learn the National LanguageAt the moment, it is still too early in the project to evaluate whether there will be an increased capacityamong students to learn the national language.Socio-economic Impact on LearnersThe most important aspect <strong>of</strong> literacy is that it gives self-confidence. This, in turn, makes people capable<strong>of</strong> expressing their views. The voluntary teachers also feel proud that they have done something for thecommunity.In terms <strong>of</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> life improvement, one community-<strong>based</strong> organization (CBO), Prochesta, startedthe formation <strong>of</strong> self-help groups (SHG) among the women learners. They were taught the mechanism<strong>of</strong> thrift, how to take loans for income generation, leadership techniques, etc. The whole process tooktime, but the end result is that many <strong>of</strong> these women are now earning some money and helping to easethe financial burden <strong>of</strong> their families. This has made the neo-literate women become aware <strong>of</strong> theirsurroundings and their status in society. They have become much more confident and their interactingcapabilities have improved. After learning to read and write, their feelings <strong>of</strong> inferiority have dramaticallylessened.Indeed, some <strong>of</strong> these women have money in their own name for the first time in their lives. Usually inthis agrarian society women help in all types <strong>of</strong> agricultural work from planting paddy to reaping. Butonce the harvest reaches the granary, they can not sell even a fistful <strong>of</strong> grains without the permission <strong>of</strong>the men folk. It’s never equal work and equal share. Yet, by being SHG members, many have improvedtheir lifestyle. During monthly meetings, they may also learn about RCH, reproductive health and childcare, contraception, immunization, etc.This has helped in poverty alleviation. While literacy may not have opened all doors, it has at leastopened a few important ones for these neo-literates.Community Participation andOwnershipPeople always work better when they have a stakein whatever they do. It’s a part <strong>of</strong> human nature. Inthe same way, for a project to be sustainable, thecommunity must have a stake in it.© State Resource Centre AssamPeople’s participation is one way to stake a claim. Whenthe people realize that it is their own achievement (<strong>of</strong>course, with help from others) which has producedresults, they will see to it that the project contines[ 104 ]
- Page 1 and 2:
Mother Tongue-basedLiteracy Program
- Page 3 and 4:
Mother Tongue-based Literacy Progra
- Page 5 and 6:
ContentsAcronymsviPartI 1Mother Ton
- Page 7 and 8:
AcronymsIndiaZSSTLCPLPCEIPCLGZSSSRC
- Page 9 and 10:
PartI
- Page 11:
Mother TongueLiteracy Programmesin
- Page 14 and 15:
Entrenchment of the common (majorit
- Page 16 and 17:
Table 1: Linguistic Contexts of the
- Page 18 and 19:
It may be noted that there is no re
- Page 20 and 21:
“If we stop using our language, i
- Page 22 and 23:
their normal lives and communicatio
- Page 24 and 25:
the project ensured that community
- Page 26 and 27:
Also, it was important to identify
- Page 28 and 29:
conservation. Tharu traditional pra
- Page 31 and 32:
In Thailand, participation in schoo
- Page 33 and 34:
would there be projects to cover al
- Page 35 and 36:
© UNESCO/D. Riewpituk
- Page 37 and 38:
BackgroundBangladesh is a delta lan
- Page 39 and 40:
As a consequence, literacy rates am
- Page 41 and 42:
Orthography DevelopmentDuring early
- Page 43 and 44:
and discussion in the plenary, age-
- Page 45 and 46:
qualifications in the tribal commun
- Page 47 and 48:
Before opening the school, the rese
- Page 49 and 50:
Networking with Other Organizations
- Page 51 and 52:
A small baseline study was conducte
- Page 53 and 54:
parents of the children studying in
- Page 55 and 56:
Awareness Creation and Opinion Form
- Page 57 and 58:
Table 2: At-a-Glance Status of MT S
- Page 59 and 60: Tasks for National and Internationa
- Page 61 and 62: © POEYS
- Page 63 and 64: BackgroundCurrent Situation of Mino
- Page 65 and 66: of instruction, but the Bunong chil
- Page 67 and 68: Process and Cost of Developing and
- Page 69 and 70: vocabulary, containing only sounds
- Page 71 and 72: Impact of the ProjectImpact on Educ
- Page 73 and 74: NetworkingThe MoEYS and UNESCO have
- Page 75 and 76: Komly Boek: Bilingual NFE TeacherMy
- Page 77 and 78: © Norman Geary
- Page 79 and 80: BackgroundThe Kam 1 of south centra
- Page 81 and 82: ‘Rice feeds the body, songs feed
- Page 83 and 84: (Putonghua) in education. Neverthel
- Page 85 and 86: do anything else with Chinese. Now
- Page 87 and 88: eading material in their own langua
- Page 89 and 90: Kam Children SingThe singing classe
- Page 91 and 92: Thus, the book-fees for a child to
- Page 93 and 94: advisers to the Project since its b
- Page 95 and 96: Capacity to Learn the National Lang
- Page 97 and 98: they were persuaded of its value (t
- Page 99 and 100: detached from the village and diffe
- Page 101 and 102: © State Resource Centre Assam
- Page 103 and 104: BackgroundIndia is home to a large
- Page 105 and 106: In the case of adult literacy, we h
- Page 107 and 108: Curriculum and Learning Materials D
- Page 109: About 70 volunteer teachers were en
- Page 113 and 114: the regional language and finally t
- Page 115 and 116: [ 108 ]© BP-PLSP
- Page 117 and 118: In attempting to meet one of the go
- Page 119 and 120: Indonesian Policies on Mother Tongu
- Page 121 and 122: Nature and LivelihoodCommunity peop
- Page 123 and 124: No. Material Time1. The Policy of S
- Page 125 and 126: Networking with CommunityMembers, G
- Page 127 and 128: BP-PLSP Region II has distributed a
- Page 129 and 130: Impact of theProgrammeThe KFBI prog
- Page 131 and 132: Phase II. Learning activities inclu
- Page 133 and 134: After learning some skills, learner
- Page 135 and 136: © BASE
- Page 137 and 138: © BASEBackground‘If we stop usin
- Page 139 and 140: een forced into bonded labor. Cultu
- Page 141 and 142: cows, bulls, sheep, and goats) kept
- Page 143 and 144: Most of the NFE programmes implemen
- Page 145 and 146: The Key Word Approach was used whil
- Page 147 and 148: how to read and write which helps t
- Page 149 and 150: In short, the Tharu mother tongue l
- Page 151 and 152: © ONFEC
- Page 153 and 154: In 2006, Thailand celebrated an aus
- Page 155 and 156: Minister of Education Chaturong Cha
- Page 157 and 158: All of the NPKOM teachers have asso
- Page 159 and 160: simple sentence structures and much
- Page 161 and 162:
Teaching Plan: Bridging to the Nati
- Page 163 and 164:
Impact of the ProjectImpact on Educ
- Page 165 and 166:
een minimal, as books developed by
- Page 167 and 168:
Annexes
- Page 169 and 170:
Annex 2: ReferencesMother Tongue Li
- Page 171 and 172:
Lindholm-Leary, K. 2001. Dual Langu