The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Women on write track

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Women on write track

R. Ravikanth Reddy

HYDERABAD: Their desire to learn is bright. Brighter than the faint light hitting their books from the street bulb above. Their chanting of Telugu words from a book reverberates in the dull lane as the dark of the night slowly takes over from dusk.

Just six months into their tryst with education, this group of women are seeing a whole new world in front of them. They are confidence personified, thanks to an initiative of the University of Hyderabad. The joy of reading a newspaper and a letter from dear ones shines on their faces. "I can sign now," declares Ratnamma, a Lambada tribal from Anantapur district. She is a regular at the street classes held at Gopinagar slum in the Serilingampally Municipality.

12,000 identified

Ratnamma is also among the hundreds of illiterates who have started enjoying the small pleasures of life gifted by education. "Our aim is to make 12,000 identified people in the municipality read and write," points out I. Ramabrahmam, Director of the Academic Staff College of University of Hyderabad (UoH) that is coordinating the programme.

The project was launched with the patronage of former Vice-Chancellor of UoH, Kota Harinarayana, who felt it was unfair to have illiterates near the university that is known for quality education worldwide. Despite no cooperation from local authorities, Dr. Harinarayana constituted a team of teachers and students and also organised funds from university resources.

Unique methods

The project is the first of its kind started by a university in the country. The methods too, are unique.

Under the slogan `Each One Teach Ten,' volunteers fan out every evening to return late in the night thus ensuring that all illiterates, mostly migrant labourers, are covered. "To ensure genuineness, we adopted the National Literacy Commission norms while declaring them as neo-literates. The norms are very tough but a few thousands passed the hurdle," says a proud Prof. Ramabrahmam.

The team developed a unique style of teaching. A primer titled `Aaroohan' was designed by T. Ramakrishna, Pammi Pavan and D. Vijaya Lakshmi of the Telugu Department for the target group.

The basic curves of letters were taught first followed by words related to their daily lives like names of near and dear ones and vegetables. For the Urdu learners, a computer-based multimedia software package was developed by Afeefa Banu of the English department and S. Durga Bhavani of the Computer Science department.

A unique concept of the project is the publication of a weekly named `Aksharam' that contained letters written by the newly educated along with their photographs.

"They could have never imagined that their writings would come in print. It increased their confidence, apart from attracting new learners," says Prof. Ramabrahmam.

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