The Hindu : Pratham plans camps for children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 21, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Pratham plans camps for children

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, FEB. 20. Pratham, a non-governmental organisation, involved in the field of education here, has set an ambitious goal to ensure that every child in Mysore is enrolled in school by 2005.

The organisation is banking on last year's experience when it conducted a successful camp for children from slums.

Bhamy V. Shenoy, trustee of Pratham, said the organisation was planning to organise summer camps at 10 different centres in the city.

Today, Pratham is helping more than 2,600 children in Mysore through various programmes like Balawadi, Balasakhi, bridge course, and computer aided learning with the help of 125 volunteers, he said.

Pratham is also planning to launch a summer Balasakhi programme in government schools.

This is to give special attention to students who

are lagging behind in

studies.

The course structure has been designed by Padmini of the University of Mysore.

She is also a trustee of Pratham. The course has been designed to improve the reading abilities of children in Kannada in less than two months, according to Dr. Shenoy.

It was pointed out that the efficacy of the course had been tested as part of the regular Balasakhi programme in 15 schools and six bridge courses designed for children who worked or have dropped out of school.

Dr. Shenoy said a survey had revealed the sorry state of affairs in primary schools.

A total of 14.7 per cent of children aged between 7 and 14 could read sentences and paragraphs; only 9.7 per cent could read words; 13.8 per cent could read alphabets; and 12.5 per cent could read nothing.

Drawing attention to possible solutions, he said that there were short-term and long-term solutions, and the short-term solution entailed making the best use of all private and even government schools during summer.

The services of teachers could be utilised, Dr. Shenoy said.

He pointed out that though the idea was simple, implementation was not easy.

"We need to get over the mindset of not doing anything during the summer holidays. When there is a crisis, we need a radical solution. Can our society afford the luxury of not using these expensive buildings and libraries? The results of our efforts, if implemented successfully, will be rewarding," Dr. Shenoy said.

It is reckoned that there are more than 15,000 children in the age group mentioned above who cannot read beyond the alphabet level.

It may not be possible to mobilise the efforts to reach out to all such children. But even if 50 per cent of the target group was covered with the help of 375 volunteers and teachers it would be akin to a mini revolution in education not only in Mysore but also in India, he said.

"In Mysore, there is a pool of nearly 8,000 teachers and it should not be difficult to motivate at least 375 dedicated and skilled teachers to participate in this war against illiteracy," Dr. Shenoy said.

Pratham has also urged those interested in contributing to this initiative to contact it by calling 2438238.

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