Prev
| Home | Next
Traditional
adult education, by and large, has been literacy-oriented - teaching adults to
read and write - the mastery of a certain degree of skills. Several techniques
have been evolved and used over the years in imparting these skills. Obviously
the programme has not attracted the adults adequately nor convicted them of its
value to their lives. Two big hurdles have dodged adult education efforts : one,
the difficulty in motivating adults and second, the problem of sustaining their
interest sufficiently long to help them to reach a point of no learn. Neither
the content nor the method have helped in overcoming these two difficulties.
A
Departure - Functional Literacy
In recent years, there has been a wider recognistion of this inadequacy of traditional
literacy programme, materials and methods, and of the need to devise materials
which will be related to the adult's life and vocational interests, and the day-to-day
problems which he has to confront and overcome.
A major effort in this directions is represented by the Farmers' Functioanl Literacy
Porgramme that has been in implementation for the last ten years. For the first
time in the history of adult education in India, this represents a country-wide
programme of adult education directly related to a developmental activity of vital
interest both to the adult and to the nation namely, increasing agricultural production.
In this programme, adult education is an integral part of a package deal consisting
of training in the knowledge and know-how of modern agriculture practices, education
to help the farmer to benefit continiuosly from the written word, and the development
of new socio-cultural attitudes, rational approach to work and life situations,
and new understandings.
The curricular materials for the farmers functional literacy programme were, therefore,
developed around the package of practices required for increasing agriculture
output in the selected areas where the high yielding laid stress on the various
inputs necessary in making the high yield variety cultivation successful-better
seeds, improved irrigation, use of fertilizers, control of pests, and the availability
of credit through co-operatives and other means.
As the project progressed, it was observed that these educational materials still
fell short of what really concerned the farmers most. While they understood the
need and value of all the various inputs, in the process of actual operations,
they came up against several difficulties and problems, and they needed help to
solve them. In the functional literacy classes, they raised these issues and expected
meaningful answers. The functional literacy programme, therefore, had to be oriented
to help them in understanding and overcoming these difficulties. The accent on
the material and inputs, to an exploration of ways of solving problems which prevented
them from getting the maximum advantage from these inputs. In other words, the
materials had to be problem-oriented and to be concerned with such skills, knowledge
and practices which the farmer should learn to offset those physical socio-cultural
values and technical competence to the developmental targets.
In response to this clearly defined need, the curricular materials should be specially
oriented to these problems. The whole process of developing such materials had
to be planned in five phases :
First an exploratory phase consisting of a survey to identify the problems faced
by farmers in adopting the new varieties of seeds and corresponding agricultural
practices;
Second,
a Syllabus and curriculum construction phase consisting of the
identification
of remedial measures to be adopted by farmers for overcoming
the problems
as indicated by the survey, and the arrangement of the syllabus
based on
the information, knowledge and skills necessary to implement these
remedial
measures.
Third, a Material
preparation phase consisting of the preparation of a first book,
posters
and charts, teachers' guide and supplementary readers, based on the
above
curriculum.
Fourth, an
Action phase where the materials so developed were to be tried out in a
limited
number of selected functional literacy classes, with the teaching and
supervisory
personnel adequately trained.
Lastly,
an Evaluation phase in which the suitably of the materials and their
approach
would be assessed, and the socio-economic and educational impact
measured.
1.
The Exploratory phase
The process began with a problem-survey. A team consisting of an agricultural
expert, a rural sociologist and a linguist had to conduct a quick survey in the
district to identify the crucial problems faced by farmers in the programme, the
remedial measures that should be taken, and how conscious the farmers were of
their problems and how prepared they were to take remedial action.
Selection
and classification of problems
The next step was to select and classify the identified problems in appropriate
categories and in order of their "Commonness" and "Cruciality".
They were grouped under four categories : those that were :
Common and primary
Crucial and common
Less crucial and common
Non-crucial
and uncommon
The problem
thus identified needed a special interpretation to formulate the local objectives
of the local functional literacy programme.
II.
The Syllabus and Curriculum Construction Phase
Having identified the problems, the process next proceeded to identify agricultural
remedial measure to be adopted by the farmers.
The problems identified and diagnosed in the first phase had now to be (a) reformulated
in terms of positive remedial operations and (b) transformed into contests or
units of the functional literacy syllabus.
The syllabus was then composed of different topics and was based on the following
premises :
a. It should
lead to the achievement of the main goal of the programme.
b. The core of each unit should be centred around an agricultural problem, task
or operation.
c. It
should aim not only to knowledge delivery, but also at the promotion of understanding
of social and natural phenomena, development of the scientific spirit, attitudinal
changes, strengthening of motivation and readiness for action.
d. It should initiate the learner into logical mathematical and scientific thinking
and assimilation of new concepts and inter-relationships, reading and writing
skills until he was able to enter into an autonomous process of learning and communication
using the written words.
e. It should ensure close correlation between the agricultural operations and
the learning content, between farming calendar and the learning schedule ; and
it should represent an approach that integrated farming problems and the learning
situation, theory and practices, the reading and writing skills and agricultural
operations.
From the
above, it would be seen that the elaboration of educational activities was based
on the milieu or the environment. This milieu understandably was a complex composite
organic structure combining geographical, human, economic, social and cultural
factors. It was this orientations of the curriculum to the milieu in which the
adult learner lived and worked that signified the fundamental methodological departure
of this process from all previous efforts.
III
.Material Preparation Phase
The learning teaching material prepared on the basis of this syllabus were, characterised
by the following features :
a. they were based on the problems and obstacles encountered by the farmers in
cultivating a particular crop (problem identification).
b. they were oriented to help the farmers to solve the economic, agricultural
and
social problems (problem solution).
c. they were formulated in an inter-disciplinary way, grouping various
pedagogical
components around real problems (unit-wise organization).
d. they correspondence closely to the conditions and needs of the environment
(economical approach)
The materials were prepared in the form of units: each unit consisting of six
components.
Functional
components
Sentences,
arithmetical expressions, drawings and work plans, analyses and demonstrations
of working operations :
Rational
components
formulae,
arithmetical expressions, drawings, pictures, sentences conveying
mathematical
and scientific concepts linked with agricultural practices :
Socio-economic
components
sentences,
texts, diagrams etc., conveying information about the social and
economic
values and effects of development :
Instrumental
components
exercise in reading, writing and calculation, all connected
with the contents :
Didactic
components
Mainly
designed for the teacher in the form of a teachers' guide ; and
Evaluative
component
consisted
of tests and tools for measuring learners' achievement in the ' units '.
Presentation
of Content
Each
unit in the learning materials presented the technical rational and socio-economic
contents in the following order :
a poster with a caption relating to an agriculture problem of working operation.
working instructions or concepts through visuals and captions related to that
operations :
working
instructions with socio-economic, scientific and mathematical concepts
in
written symbols related to the same operation.
analysis of words into alphabets.
fixation of reading, writing and arithmetical skills.
exercises for skill development ; and
Further exercise in these skills such as synthesis of new words and numbers,
composition, etc., for application and drill of these skills and also for testing
purposes.
Special
Features
All parts
of the content were inter-connect and were based on needs, activities, functions
and occupational concerns of the learners.
All parts of each unit were linked to the same life or work problem but from different
angles in an inter-disciplinary presentation.
The material could be used both 'horizontally' and 'vertically'- the former by
grouping all parts of a unit around a multi-faceted problem, and the latter by
combining and linking the similar portions of different units. A system of multiple
pagination was adopted to facilitate a multipurpose utilization of the material.
The teachers' guide detailed guidelines to the instructor on how to use these
materials, what method to adopt, the place of group dynamics, time schedule, unit-wise
treatment and evaluation tests and tools.
The validity of this ecological, environmental based approach is now being increasingly
recognised and is being adopted in some adult education and functional literacy
porgrammes in India. In fact, it has now come to be believed that such an approach
is an essential pre-requisite before any meaningful adult education porgramme
can be formulated and put on the ground. The latest application on a large scale
of this problem-oriented approach to adult education porgramme was in the non-formal
education programme planned for the age group 15-25.
Such an environmental based problem oriented approach obviously implies diversifications
and flexibilities of the highest order. No two environments are identical in structure
and characteristics, nor are the attitudes, approaches and responses of adults
in difficult situations. The curriculum would therefore, need to be adopted to
each situation. Ideally conceived, the teacher of each adult group should develop
his own curricular materials, suited to the needs of his group, the local situation
and the local operational calendar. No centrally prepared material can achieved
the perfect matching of the learning needs to every milieu. But in a situation
like India wherever the programme depends upon a wide variety of instructions
drawn from different backgrounds with widely varying educational and pedagogical
competences, such individualised materials may not be feasible. The absence of
centres of research in adult education methods and teachinques also adds to this
problem. A beginning will, therefore, have to be made with materials prepared
at the State level with possibilities for adaptation for district variations.
In the long run, however, teachers even at village level should be enabling by
professional guidance and technical help to adapt these materials to their special
circumstances.