Nexus of Good: Empowerment through education

The British left India illiterate. In 1951, there were only 18.33 per cent of people that were literate. As a consequence of the efforts made by various governments, it improved to 74.04 by 2011. However, even now a large number remains illiterate. And, the greater problem is that this illiteracy is not evenly distributed. There are some segments where illiteracy is more rampant than others. This impacts the quality of life of those that are illiterate. Mandla in Madhya Pradesh is one such district.

Mandla is a predominantly tribal district, with a huge fund flow in the accounts of beneficiaries through government welfare schemes. However, in the absence of literacy/financial literacy, the general tribal populace was unable to appreciate the banking process and was often at the receiving end of banking forgery.

This prompted the need for interventions. Efforts were made to make people capable of handling their day-to-day needs of banking and other survival issues by making them capable of reading, writing their names and doing basic calculations.

To begin with, a household survey was carried out for gauging the capacity to read, write and do the basic calculation. This was followed up with the data from banks to ascertain how many people were using thumb impressions instead of signatures. The MNREGA data came in handy. Initial information revealed that more than 40 per cent were using thumb impressions. The dismal scenario also prevailed in the context of the old age pension.

Before this intervention, the adult literacy campaign was almost non-existent because of the lack of social mobilisation, resources and the follow-up processes that created a gap. This was required to be addressed at the earliest. Hence, under the 'Niraksharta se Aazadi' Campaign, efforts were made to find a solution to the above-mentioned problem and implement adult literacy as a social movement. Under this campaign, the most educated men and women of the respective gram panchayat or ward voluntarily came forward to hand-hold other unlettered adults in the respective gram panchayat/ward. The campaign was undertaken as a social mobilisation movement wherein the pooling of resources was ensured with the help of local district citizens through 'Gyan Daan' or voluntary contribution in the form of stationary and/or other requirements. The school students were also motivated to teach their parents and grandparents at home. To involve tribal women, the educated daughters/daughters-in-law were encouraged to take care of their unlettered mothers/mother-in-law and make them literate.

As a consequence of the initiatives taken, 5,000 'Akshar Sathis' joined the movement. To motivate them, several small interventions in the form of social rewards, such as inviting them as chief guests during important public functions, giving them the honour of hoisting the national flag and awarding them as leaders of change, etc. were taken. Adult literacy sessions were conducted in the often-unused rooms of gram panchayat 'bhawans' and 'anganwadis'. All these were more often than not centrally located in the village. 486 'Mahila Gyanalays' and 615 'Samajik Chetna Kendras' were set up for driving this campaign forward. Apart from static 'kendras', these 'akshar sathis' sometimes had to overcome the topographical challenge of crossing rivers and climbing hilltops to reach the doorsteps to conduct literacy sessions. Further, morning sessions were held at MNREGA sites, followed by night door-to-door house sessions. An administrative team was set up for regular follow-up and for conducting regular literacy surveys after every 15 days to identify the gaps and address them accordingly.

As a result of these interventions, 1,76,802 unlettered people were handheld by 5,000 'akshar sathis' as well as school children within two years. They were able to read and write their name and do basic counting, i.e., they became functionally literate.

The literacy campaign has helped increase the penetration of government welfare schemes and more people can understand and demand the benefits for which they are eligible. This intervention has demonstrably reduced the cases of bank forgery and has increased the confidence of tribal folks in the district.

There is still a lot of work to be done in the district and the district team is carrying on relentlessly. There are still 38,856 persons who haven’t taken the NIOS exam to demonstrate their literate status. Apart from this, the next step of the intervention after functional literacy and financial literacy is digital literacy. Those who were made financially literate were introduced to the world of digital literacy with the help of locally educated boys and girls of the gram panchayat, along with 'Gram Rozgar Sahayak' (GRS) who were adept in the field of digital work. The locally available computers in the Gram Panchayat office were often used for this purpose.

A beginning has been made in this remote district under the inspired leadership of the Collector, Harshika Singh and her committed team of officers. They have already travelled a considerable distance and created an impact. What they have achieved is a wonderful example of Nexus of Good. They have demonstrated that a lot can be accomplished by taking stakeholders into confidence and through a public-private partnership. The model that has been put in place in Mandla can be replicated in other districts of the country as well. The beauty of this model is that it does not require huge financial expenditure. The focus is to make it into a social movement and demonstrate that the idea has value for all stakeholders.

Views expressed are personal