The initiative was taken by Room to Read to celebrate World Literacy Day as it is celebrated internationally on the 8th of September, 2006 . It was celebrated on the 10 th due to schedule constraints of the donor agency, along with another NGO, Manzil, because of constraints they had.
Children follow up on an activity that had taken place in their Bal Panchayat in May, in which they identified children who lived on their street, who were out of school. During the follow up, they concentrated on their own families. They investigated, then, reported the number of members in their household and the literacy levels of each member. The follow up was done at the class level during Rishtaa periods.
The senior computer literate students enter this information into the computer using the Excel program.
Children are introduced to the World Literacy Day and the opportunity they have to contribute to this effort in the Bal Panchayat. The previous follow up exercise was put into perspective.
In another Bal Panchayat, the students analyze the community in 5 households including theirs, the literacy levels of all members therein and the reasons why those not engaged in an education are unwilling or do not have access to education.
As part of the above Bal Panchayat, the students decide that a small population of children keep away from education because they do not know all the fun it entails. Thus, they decide to invite as many of this population living in their 5 household catchment area that each child has been allotted to a World Literacy Day Celebration.
On Saturday the 2nd of September, the Bal Panchayat meets to discuss the arrangements and entertainment for their guests, to discuss solutions for the other groups with different problems that have emerged from the data and its analysis.
On Monday the 11th of September, the children meet to take a pledge that they will take on the education of one other person who has little or no education until they learn at least up to the class 5 (CBSC) level.
The guest of honor will be the Principal of the local Government Primary School at Katra. 
2 comments:
that was a fantastic effort in relationship building both with katra school and R2R. The certificate ceremony was real moving and everyone played their roles brilliantly. I feel sorry I could not attend the entire morning.
all I can say is "wow"!!! I feel proud to know you all.
let's get more community leaders to see our school and the good work we are doing.
Hello Pritha,
I liked your idea of children taking the pledge to get other children enrolled in the school and rewarding those children who have undertaken activities in that regard.
Few suggestions on how to make a literacy day a special one.
· It will be nice if children collect the education profile of their family and do an intergeneration comparison like grandmother education status,mother education status,sister status. Further if trends like (Age of marriage,voting pattern,ability to travel independently etc) can be studied.
· Awareness related activities on importance of education are done in the community.
Let me know your thoughts on the above suggestions.
Ashima
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