The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014 of Pratham, a national level non-governmental organisation (NGO) reveals that 20 per cent of the children in standards III to V can only read letters or not even that, while 14 per cent can read words, but not sentences.
Nineteen per cent of the students can read sentences, but not longer texts. The report further states that, 32.5 per cent of the children in Standard II cannot even recognise letters, whereas at the end of Standard II, the children are expected to read simple sentences easily.
ASER is an annual survey conducted by Pratham through local NGOs in each district to assess the schooling status and the basic learning levels in reading and arithmetic among children in standards I to V. Thirty randomly selected villages in each district are covered, according to the ASER website.
In the background of such an appalling report about the status of elementary education in India, AID (Association for India’s Development) or AID India has recently launched a programme to impart basic reading and arithmetic skills to children in standards I to V in government, aided and private schools in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu.
‘Ennum Ezhuthum’
S. Kumaran, Vellore district coordinator of AID India said that Eurekha Kalvi Iyakkam, an NGO based in Vellore district has undertaken the task of imparting the skills to the children in about 2000 villages throughout the district.
Styled as ‘Ennum Ezhuthum’ (numbers and words), the scheme would be implemented with the help of local volunteers educated up to Plus Two or above.
They would impart the skills for one hour daily at a time convenient to them.
One volunteer in each village will coordinate the activity by mobilising volunteers to teach the children.
Each centre will have 15 children.
The volunteers will first assess the reading/arithmetic skills of the children and divide them into ‘knowing’ and ‘not-knowing’ children.
The NGO will also adopt the strategy of imparting the skills to the ‘not knowing’ children with the help of ‘knowing’ children wherever possible, said Mr. Kumaran.
Western parts
The Society for the Development of Economically Weaker Sections (SODEWS) will be conducting the programmes in the western part of the district, i.e., in the blocks of Kandili, Tirupattur, Natrampalli and Jolarpet, he said.
‘Eurekha Super Kids’
In the evenings, the Eurekha Kalvi Iyakkam will conduct a ‘Eurekha Super Kids’ programme for students in Standards I to VIII, under which they will be taught skills in Tamil, English, Science and Mathematics.
Science will be taught through simple experiments using locally available materials, Mr. Kumaran said.
The programme of imparting reading/arithmetic skills to children in Standards I to V will be conducted till June 15.
