Participants at an international workshop on literacy on Thursday stressed the need for utilising Information and Communication Tools (ICT) for advocating the benefits of literacy programmes and at the same time link it with livelihood.
Linking livelihood with literacy, the participants at the “ICT for literacy workshop for E-9 countries” felt, would lead to better productivity paving way for greater economic development.
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji set the tone for the conference by pointing out that ICT in literacy should attempt to achieve equity – bridging the digital divides between rich-poor and urban-rural.
“Mere introduction of ICT will not automatically create the kind of impact or change that we intend to cause. Technology will induce change only if accompanied by changes in ideas, processes and way of viewing things,” he said.
He said if teachers do not see that ICT is helpful in their work, there is no hope for the same turning out to be an effective tool in the mission for literacy. He said that ICT must become integrated in teacher’s repertoire of classroom practice.
Mr Premji decried the usual tendency of delivering every learning item through ICT. He said ICT is most effective when the learning item requires visualisation or simulation. “I believe we must use ICT to deliver that which is best delivered through it, and use other pedagogical tools wherever they are more effective,” he said. In his address, Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh sought private participation in the literacy mission. He said the national literacy mission was started in 1988 for universalisation of primary education, however, the goal still seemed to be quite far.
Appreciating the drive on primary education by the Azim Premji Foundation, Mr Singh said that other private entrepreneurs too need to chip-in. “Government alone cannot do everything. Many a times our efforts fall short of expectations. There should be support from the private sector,” he said. He also sought involvement of the younger generation in the literacy drive.
Ms Vandana Jena, director, National Literacy Mission, said the scaling up of adult literacy programmes requires a coordinated national financial strategy. Budgetary allocation to literacy must increase but not at the expense of investment in quality of schooling, she said.
The three-day workshop organised by National Literacy Mission and UNESCO is to provide a platform for policy makers, administrators, programme managers to share information and experiences and discuss strategies for the present and the future course of action for undertaking programmes for ICT for literacy. E-9 initiative was launched in 1993 wherein governments of Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan pledged to universalise primary education and significantly reduce illiteracy in their respective countries.
