By now, many of you would have heard that I have been awarded the Nehru Literacy Award for 2015 in recognition of my contributions to literacy nationally and internationally. When the news of this award was made public last week, some of my PRIA colleagues seemed bewildered: Rajesh, PRIA and literacy?
So, on the occasion of India’s 67th Republic Day, let me tell you the story of literacy, me and PRIA.
When I returned to India in late 1976 to do field work for my Ph.D, I landed in Sewa Mandir, Udaipur due to Dr Mohan Sinha Mehta (popularly called Bhai Saheb). Over the next five years, my association with training of literacy workers, including women, in southern Rajasthan continued. The new Janata Government in Delhi launched a National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) in 1978, the first of its kind in the country. I had just finished one round of training of tribal farmers in Udaipur district. I had adapted the methodology of ‘conscientisation’ evolved by Paulo Freire for training of young adults participating in farmers’ functional literacy programme. My write-up of that participatory training methodology found its way in the first compendium on NAEP prepared by the Government of India.
NAEP was abandoned by the national government after the fall of Janata Government in 1980. However, a large number of voluntary organisations had become involved in literacy programmes. As PRIA was established in 1982, a number of initial field partners were involved in literacy and non-formal education programmes. Therefore, promotion of participatory training methodology for adult educators (and community organisers and women mobilisers) became a major activity in building local capacity.
Building on original linkages between Network of Participatory Research and International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), PRIA became closely associated with Indian Adult Education Association (IAEA) and Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE), established in 1947 and 1964 respectively. Building capacity of national and state associations of adult education as civil society organisations was one of the main contributions of PRIA in the late 1980s.
Conversations about participatory learning in the formulation of New Education Policy in 1986 facilitated closer association of PRIA with the Directorate of Adult Education in Government of India. This partnership produced many exciting outcomes, the first being a pioneering publication, “Participatory Training for Adult Educators” (1987). Building on this partnership, PRIA trained hundreds of literacy trainers in Bihar Literacy Project in 1988-89, in collaboration with Deepayatan, State Resource Centre in Patna.
When the National Literacy Mission (NLM) was established to promote Total Literacy in India in 1988, PRIA became a national resource centre for training. During the next four years, training capacity in participatory training methodology of more than 100 trainers of all State Resource Centres and 25 university departments was built by PRIA. PRIA supported similar capacity enhancement of Delhi Literacy Society during this period. In partnership with NLM, PRIA conducted a study on effectiveness of training methodology in ten districts (including Muzaffarpur and Durg) in 1992-93, resulting in a premier publication, “Learning for Literacy”.
The UN had declared 1990 as International Literacy Year, and ICAE/ASPBAE organised the first international conference in Asia (Bangkok) in January 1990. Later that year, in Jomtien (Thailand) was launched Education for All (EFA). PRIA’s active involvement in ICAE and ASPBAE created the space for advocacy at such international arenas.
During the next five years, PRIA gave special impetus to women’s literacy. It supported SAMATA in this effort, and participated in its national convention held in Jhansi in 1993. In partnership with World Education, PRIA conducted an impactful programme of linking women’s literacy with livelihood in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh during 1997-99. When PRIA’s work on empowering women panchayat leaders gained national coverage in the early 21st century, rapid literacy programmes for illiterate women elected panchayat leaders were successfully launched in Rajasthan and Haryana.
Looking back, we can be proud of our extensive national and international contributions to promotion of literacy. In particular, PRIA’s interventions in building capacity of literacy instructors and trainers in participatory training methodology have been immensely effective. Despite declining interest and investment in literacy in the country for the past 15 years, PRIA has continued its work on women’s literacy and empowerment.
The essence of literacy is in its functional and empowering contributions to our individual and collective well-being. “We learn to read the word so that we can read the world; we learn to write the word so that the world can hear our words”. In today’s digital era, digital illiteracy is excluding and disempowering not just rural and tribal communities but also the elderly. In today’s ‘card-based’ economy, financial illiteracy is excluding many from secure economic participation.
PRIA’s motto encompasses literacy, as its content and pedagogy evolve over time—Knowledge. Voice. Democracy.
