1 1 Adult Illiteracy in India
Dec 14, 2015
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1Observations
• The expectation is that it will take another 15 years to raise literacy levels significantly
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1Observations
• The Literacy Mission’s material in this regard is excellent and addresses Reading and Writing skills.
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1Observations
• Traditional teaching approaches need many qualified teachers, and each programme needs long attention spans from illiterate adults.
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1TCS’ Motivations
• Would like to employ our background and professional experience to significantly speed up the spread of adult literacy
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1Basis of TCS’ Experiments
• Adults have intuitive grasp of language and have innate cognitive capability
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1Basis of TCS’ Experiments
• Of the three R’s, Reading is the most important skill and is most used
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1Basis of TCS’ Experiments
• Facility with reading can provide the motivation and self help capability for acquiring others skills
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1Basis of TCS’ Experiments
• Illiterate adults use language. They have sufficient vocabulary to cope with their essential communication needs
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1Basis of TCS’ Experiments
• They need to learn
– to recognize graphical representation of letters–mapping between letters and
sounds
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1Basis of TCS’ Experiments
• Reading is the ability to harmonize graphical patterns with sounds to relate to words they know
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1TCS’ Experiments
• Studied material used by several approaches to address adult in several languages. Found NLM material to be best researched
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1TCS’ Experiments
• Develop Computer Based Training material for teaching reading skills based on NLM material
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1TCS’ Experiments
• Started experiments in Telugu
• Created 18 lessons using NLM material
• over 40 hours instruction needed over 8 to 10 weeks
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1TCS’ Experiments
• Three site experiments show
–value of multiple aids to reinforce cognitive learning
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1TCS’ Experiments
• Three site experiments show
–value of researchers in organizing the instruction in terms of sequencing the matter, and effort and time to be spent on various topics
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1TCS’ Experiments
• Three site experiments show
–ability to read slowly words with letters they have been taught in 3 to 4 weeks
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1TCS’ Experiments
• In 8 to 10 weeks, they can read newspapers slowly by themselves
• Use their intuition to guess the words they do not know
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1CBT Development Team
Ms. Bhanu IyerM.Krishna Kumar
Dr. Sharada GaneshProf. P. N. Murthy
Dr. M. V. Ananthakrishnan
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1Analysis
• 15 to 20 adults per session• 1.5 to 2 hour sessions• 3 times a week• 2 shifts, different groups on
alternate days
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1Analysis
• At one site, 240 - 450 adults pa • 20,000 sites will serve 5 million
adults a year at a minimum
• Adult literacy in Andhra can be significantly improved in 3 to 5 years
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1Analysis
• Use of technology reduces the need for well qualified teachers to conduct every session
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1Analysis
• Teachers
–Senior school students and professional degree students can be deployed
–NGOs can be tapped
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1Analysis
• National Literacy Mission produced materials are an excellent starting point for all Indian Languages
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1Next steps
• Start development of course material for teaching reading skills in other languages
• Tamil, Marathi, Hindi ...
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1Next steps
• Launch 60-80 simultaneous initiatives in Andhra to validate current experience and improve course material
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1Next Steps
• Experiment with Wireless Local Loop communications technology to reach remote locations and back up their facilities