No country can ever get developed with out the citizens being literate. The problems of over-population, aids, poverty, unemployment, productivity improvement, health, etc can only be solved, as soon as possible, once our people can learn to read and write!

In the last 55 years we have not been able to achieve this. Countries in Asia, like China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea and others took urgent steps for making their population literate, with spectacular results.

We the people of India, all have to pitch in to solve this aspect of literacy. The sooner India achieves 100% primary literacy, the better it is for all of us! Instead of finding fault with the Government, we need to pitch in with all our might!

TCS, www.tataliteracy.com, has developed a quick method of teaching Indian Languages to our people. They have truly used Information Technology not only to benefit other countries, as is being done by all the IT companies who export IT & Software to other countries, but also to use it for imparting 100% literacy to the people of India

We, i Watch, a not-for-profit organization, see www.wakeupcall.org, for details, are only enabling the good work done by them. Details about this method are mentioned as under, to answer most of your questions:-

1. The time required to learn other Indian languages is the same as for Hindi.
2. One must be able to speak the language that one wants to learn with this method. For example, Hindi speaking people can ONLY learn Hindi, by this method. Marathi, Tamil and Telegu are also available.
3. Age 7 to 70 years.
4. Class size about 20 people max.
5. One PC per class of 20, is required. Minimum Pentium 1 is OK. PC should have sound card, multimedia software with speakers and colour monitor. Language learning program on CD has a file size about 200Mb.
6. Teach about 960 people per year with one PC. 4 classes per day, of 20 people per class, of two hours per class per day. 80 people per day or a total of 48 batches per year. It is advisable to give lessons on alternate days so that the information can soak-in with the learners. Batches can be switched on alternate days.
7. Literacy primer of that language is required, as a supplement.
8. Pupils should have ample writing paper, pens and pencils, for experimentation and writing practice.
9. Please see the experience of the various classes already held in Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu. Details on the CD.
10. Please see the reasons as to why this method of teaching is important and vital to the country. Details on the CD.
11. Some states like UP and Bihar will take about 100 to 140 years to achieve 100% literacy, at the present rate of development. The Government will however not agree to these figures! These are based on UNDP.
12. No teacher is required. Any person, student, housewife or adult with max 7th class education in the language being taught, is good enough.
13. No teacher training is required. One can learn to teach this program in a few minutes.
14. Computer literacy is NOT required to teach this program. The student or teacher, only have to move & operate the mouse.
15. This is a multimedia program, in colour, sound and text. One can move forwards or backwards as one pleases. Any normal teacher would get tired of repeating the words and alphabets, again and again. However the PC never gets bored or tired!
16. This system teaches the words directly, without any mention of grammar or vowels!
17. There are about 500 words in every language which are mostly used for day-to-day conversation, reading and writing. This program tries to teach these important words.
18. After this course, people can read a newspaper and write a few short sentences.
19. It builds up a lot of confidence and encourages people to learn further. It would also help people in vocational training and education, where one has to learn skills and vocations.
20. In the 21st century, India cannot be isolated, from the rest of the world, with nearly 700 million people who are illiterate. Government figures indicate that ONLY 450 million are illiterate, World Bank figures are higher, as mentioned. Whether it is 450 million or 700 million people, let us change this situation!
21. We are working closely with TCS in order to develop the other seven Indian Languages.
22. We are planning to raise funds to set up 1000 learning centres per Indian language, in the states of India, and also to fund the development of Urdu, Punjabi, Assamese, Oriya, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali & Gujarati.

The only Constant in Life is CHANGE!

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