How long will it take for India to become completely literate? Thirty-odd years, say some. No, it may need just about a sixth of that time, Faqir Chand Kohli, a prophet of India’s software revolution, would argue. Information technology allied with innovation can help speed up the spread of literacy in India, he reasons.
Driven by Kohli’s idea was born the CBFL (computer-based functional literacy) programme that TCS crafted for communities. CBFL blends the company’s expertise in the creation of software with exemplary research done by the National Literacy Mission, established by the Indian Government in 1988 to eradicate adult illiteracy in the country, narrates one of the chapters in ‘Code of Honour,’ edited by Christabelle Noronha (Westland).
“The programme employs animated graphics and a voice over to explain how individual alphabets combine to give structure and meaning to various words. The courseware uses puppets as the motif in the teaching process, with lessons tailored to fit different languages and even dialects,” describes a snatch in the chapter titled ‘40 hours to literacy.’
The foremost guiding point for the programme was that the country’s uneducated people can learn by themselves using technology. The focus is on reading, ‘because that is the fountainhead skill leading to writing, arithmetic and the rest.’ Importantly, the programme hastens the entire procedure ‘to ensure that an uneducated person can be taught to read in about 30-45 hours, since that’s about all the time an adult can afford to spare on a continuous basis.’
TCS targeted the age group of 15-30, because of the productive potential of this segment of population, struggling at a literacy level of less than 30 per cent. “Lifting these people out of the illiteracy quagmire is the key to the success of any countrywide education programme.”
Using computers, lessons (‘shows’) are delivered in multimedia form, with an emphasis on imbibing words rather than the letters. “Each centre under the project has a computer and an instructor, or prerak, as he or she is called, to conduct a class. A typical class has between 15 and 20 people and is held in the evening hours.”
In about 40 hours, spread over 10 to 12 weeks, the learners acquire a vocabulary of 300-500 words in their own language and dialect, the authors inform. “This suffices for everyday requirements, such as reading destination signs on buses, straightforward documents and even newspapers. And it sets these people on the path to acquiring other literacy skills, including writing and arithmetic ability.”
For any democracy to function effectively and for people to improve their chances of economic betterment, literacy is an imperative, the authors note in conclusion. “As a wise man once said, ‘Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.’ TCS’s endeavour with the CBFL project is to help pave the path to that education.”
Inspiring collection.
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