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Lessons
In Logic
The good
samaritan wings of corporates are stressing more and more on literacy
and empowerment. By doing so, half the battle against other social evils
is won, writes INDIA TODAY Himanshi Dhawan.
A
square-looking father, a round red-faced mother and a thin-as-a-stick
"didi". As eight-year-old Rohini hangs up her masterpiece on
the mud-caked wall, there's an unmistakeable gleam in her eyes. As far
as she is concerened, the trio comprised her entire world and she had
managed to capture them as best as she could in the little painting.
It wasn't always like this and "didi" knows it only too well.
She came into the little girl's life only recently but she knows she's
made a huge difference. Like she has in the case of 180 others. All tribal
children now adopted by the Nanhi Kali project, run under the auspices
of the K.C. Mahindra Educational Trust of Mahindra and Mahindra and Samparc,
an NGO. Atop the Bhaje caves in the hill resort of Lonavla in Maharashtra,
all that these children of Khonkevadi used to do was fetch water, tend
cattle—and their younger siblings. School, painting, basketball—they
were unheard of until didi, a social worker who is part of the project,
showed them what they meant. "Our biggest challenge was to persuade
parents to let the children come to school,'' says Amit Banerjee, Samparc's
co-founder, who adds that it was a process that took him and his colleague
Lata Pande at least 10 years. But having impacted nearly 40 villages,
they now feel it was worth the effort and time.
For M&M, it is a quesion of keeping up with a commitment. A commitment
to invest time and resources to educate the poor. It isn't the only company
doing such a thing. Nor for that matter is the rural hinterland the only
target. In a trend that is fast catching on, the good samaritan wings
of corporates—which are working on their own or in conjunction with
NGOs—are stressing more and more on literacy and empowerment to ensure
the deprived sections a better tomorrow. It's a lesson in logic since
by addressing education, half the battle against other social evils is
won.
Financial conglomerate ICICI works with the agency, Pratham, to give street
children their due. There are nearly 80,000 children in Mumbai who the
agency works, encouraging universal enrolments, maximising attendance
and achievement levels in schools. The projects cover pre-school, remedial
education and bridge-course programmes which basically provides a learning
environment for drop-outs or those who have never attended school.
A smaller revolution is brewing in the hub of Mumbai's Worli Koliwada
village as well. The Koli community of this fishing village is now part
of an unlikely extended family of the pharma giant, Glaxo India Limited.
The company formed the Shishukalyan Snehi Swayamsevak Sanstha in 1996
to provide supplementary meals and medical aid for 70 children as part
of the Balwadi project. Glaxo also provides educational support sponsorships
for 25 girls, who now exude confidence. Vanita Raut, 13, for instance,
even has a bank account with money that she earned by selling her painting
at an exhibition organised by Glaxo.
Elsewhere in Mumbai, the Sterlite Foundation of the Sterlite Group is
working wonders on other youngsters. Besides running a school for the
mentally challenged, it also offers a basic three-month diploma course
in computers, and vocational courses like tailoring and beautician-training.
The computer course, run in 240 centres in association with organisations
like the Rotary Club, Lion's Club and the Ramakrishna Mission, is especially
popular. A monthly fee of Rs 100 is charged, but as the foundation's regional
officer, Gajanand Jagirdar, lets on, "There are several occasions
when students can't pay even that much. We have payments of Rs 20,000
overdue at just one centre.'' But that hasn't deterred the company in
any way.
Organisations like Sterlite and Tata Consultancy Services believe that
computers and new technology can be effectively used to combat the dogged
problem of illiteracy and ensure financial independence. TCS is even experimenting
a method by which computer-based techniques and training methods help
a person traverse the distance between illiteracy and literacy in barely
10 weeks.
Initiated in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, one of the first beneficiaries
was Veeramma from Kolipara village. Veeramma, 50, could barely make ends
meet as a domestic help. But a determined lady, she took time to attend
classes, learning to read Telugu, the language she had spoken all her
life. Today she runs a vegetable shop and manages the accounts herself.
It is this self-reliance and confidence that marks the students of TCS'
functional literacy programme.
Based on the concept that the basic learning unit is not an alphabet but
a syllable, language is reduced to a series of syllables. Adults process
both pictorial and aural inputs through computer software installed at
convenient locations like a gram panchayat office or community centre.
Learning is induced by repeatedly flashing symbols and icons in the local
language on the computer screen. The programme teaches adults to recognise
300 to 500 key words, by the end of which students can even read a newspaper.
Over 1,000 adults have undergone the programme in 100 centres in Andhra
Pradesh.
Another experiment still in its nascent stage has been initiated by IT
major Wipro Limited. The company has extended its motto "Applying
Thought" to a higher level with the help of NGO Jagruti in five private
schools in Bangalore where alternative methods for teaching are used.
Emphasis is paid to learning skills like problem solving, creative thinking
and information handling rather than mere learning by rote. Teachers of
classes III to VII are encouraged to engage students in quizzes, group
work and discussions while developing their own personal and managerial
skills. "Teachers of these classes usually receive less attention
than those teaching senior classes," says Jagruti's Maya Menon.
The fight of the corporates is as much against illiteracy as it is against
the rigidity of the existing system of education. That has often meant
heavy investments. But no one seems to mind. Whether it is Wipro doling
out Rs 15 lakh or Tata Consultancy Services spending Rs 20 lakh, these
companies are determined to achieve their objective. As TCS' Prof Nori
says, "In terms of manpower, we've put in 5,000 years of work.''
And it is not likely to back out now.
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