Rethinking Adult Literacy Education- Asian Perspectives Conference by DVV International

An international conference was organized in Vientiane, Lao PDR by DVV International on Adult Literacy Education (ALE) and Life Long learning (LLL). The conference was titled as Rethinking ALE- Asian Perspectives. As the name suggests, the conference was particularly focussed at understanding and discussing the pressing questions and emerging trends on ALE and LLL in Asian contexts, in particular. There was wide representation from several countries like Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, a few from India and several other South East Asian countries. There were multiple lined up sessions which witnessed presentation from reputed organizations like UNESCO Bangkok, ASPBAE, SEMAO, PRIA etc. who shared their experiences and practices around ALE with the participants.

A part of the conference was dedicated to the discussions around the role and importance of Youth in ALE.  PRIA’s Youth n Democracy Campaign was invited to make a presented and conduct a group discussion on ways and methods to engage with youth, particularly Middle Class youth in Asian context. Being closely associated with the campaign for two years, I got a wonderful opportunity to present the campaign’s learnings and insights, especially in relation to ALE and LLL. The presentation talked extensively about the array of art based mediums and other contemporary mediums which we have been using to engage with the youth. These methods are re-defining the ways in which we can educate the youth. What was intriguing for me that a lot of other individuals and organizations were very interested in understanding more about using contemporary methods like digital, art, theatre, poetry etc. to make the education more impactful and meaningful. A lot of inferences were also drawn from the recently published paper titled In the middle of Nowhere: Engaging with Middle Class youth on Adult Literacy Education (Link:http://dvvinternational.de/fileadmin/files/Inhalte_Bilder_und_Dokumente/Materialien/IPE/IPE77_EN_web.pdf). It was interesting to listen to the questions and queries of the participants who have never applied these contemporary methods in dealing with young people. A number of them expressed the need for more capacity building initiatives to bring newer and more engaging ways of propagating life-long learning amongst the young people. It was felt that the Indian demographic dividend of growing youth population also resonates with other Asian countries hence there needs to be more collaborative discussions on bringing strategies which could be applied in multiple contexts.

This conference was also special as it gave a chance to re-visit the long standing connection between Adult Education and the work/philosophies of PRIA. PRIA has worked consistently on promoting and propagating Adult Literacy and Education as well as Life Long learning through its various initiatives and partnerships. The Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) has been headquartered at PRIA for almost a decade with Dr Rajesh Tandon as its President from the year 1991-2000.  In addition, PRIA has also been one of the longest standing partners of DVV international and has jointly implemented several projects on ALE and LLL in India and other parts of Asia.  This conference was yet again a reminder to keep continuing such strong partnerships to build better futures for the world of education and learning.