Akshara Prathisthana to adopt 500 schools in North Karnataka region
Deccan Herald
Gulbarga, September 15, 2005

Akshara Prathistana President Rohini Nilekani said nearly 40% of the students studying in Government schools did not know how to read and write properly.

Akshara Prathistana has come forward to adopt 500 Government schools in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which would benefit around 90,000 children.

Akshara Prathistana is working with the State Government to bring school dropouts back to schools, and to improve the learning capacity of students who are not doing well in their studies.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, Akshara Prathistana President Rohini Nilekani, wife of Infosys Chief Executive Officer Nandan Nilekani, stated that according to a survey conducted, nearly 40% of the students studying in Government schools did not know how to read and write properly.

As the learning capacity of these children was very low, she said, the Akshara Prathistana had taken up a programme towards helping these children to learn better and faster. “This programme is being implemented in the selected schools with the help of the non governmental organizations [NGOs],” she added.

Agencies like Pravardha, Seeri, World Vision, Krishna Grameena Bank, Prerana, Jal-Kalyan, Jindal Prathistana, BVVS Education Society, NCUI Society and others would be helping the Akshara Prathistana in this. “Already, nearly 1, 00,000 children were benefitted by this programme in the slums of Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, and Mysore,” She said.

Ms. Nilekani said this programme was being implemented in the 20 taluks which have been identified as most backward by the Prof. Nanjundappa Committee on redressal of regional imbalances.

Mobile Library

She said the main objective of the programme was to provide a ‘balwadi’ [nursery], a mobile library, women’s literacy, and to bring dropouts back to schools in the selected villages in these taluks.

In the first phase, she said, 300 ‘balwadis’ would be started in 12 taluks in the region, wherein education would be provided to children between three and five years. These children would be thought how to socialize, and how to develop self-confidence. Moreover, she said, books worth Rs. 5,000 would be provided to each of these ‘balwadis’.

In Gulbarga district, these ‘balwadis’ would be started at Gulbarga, Chittapur, Aland, Afzalpur, Shahapur, Yadgir and at Jawargi in the first phase, she said. Within the next three years, these would be extended to all the other taluks in the district, she added.

Fast learning programme

Ms. Nilekani said, under the ‘fast-learning’ programme, the children would be made to learn reading within 45 days. Using the latest learning methodologies, measures would be taken to see that the children in second to seventh standards improved in reading, writing and using vocabulary, she added.

As this programme would be started on a pilot basis here, she said, 50 schools were selected at present under the “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”, which involved nearly 3000 children.

Ms. Nilekani said a programme was also being taken up to make the members of women self-help groups [SHGs] and their family members literate.

Educational camps would be held at the gram panchayat level towards creating awareness among the villagers about the importance of education, and to urge them to send their children to schools.

Akshara Prathistana Trustee Suzanne Singh, Programme Director Vijay Kulkarni, and others were also present at the press conference.