Chapter 4 - Management and Funding of Literacy

4. Management and Funding of Literacy

4.1 National Level

National Literacy Mission is the nodal authority at national level in charge of adult education in the country. NLM consists of a General Body and an Executive Committee, the former, headed by Minister of Human Resource Development, and Executive Committee, by Secretary, Department of Elementary Education and Literacy, MHRD. NLM is located in the Bureau of Adult Education, headed by Joint Secretary who also acts as DG (NLM). Within the overall perspective as embodied in EFA-National Plan of Action, NLM manages adult and continuing programmes in the country and all supporting institutions at State (e.g., State Resource Centres) and District levels, like Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS [People’s Education Centres] have been set up to undertake vocational and life skills programmes for the educationally and socio-economically disadvantaged youths and adults in urban and rural areas, including neo-literates of the literacy movement). Other than NLM as part of Department of Elementary Education and Literacy, there is no inter-ministerial coordination body in respect of policy and management for adult education at Central level.

4.1.1 State Level

The counterpart of NLMA at State level, the SLMA is headed by Chief Minister and Education Minister, and its Executive Committee headed by Chief Secretary and Education Secretary. Both these bodies at State level are represented by Ministries with line departments like agriculture, health and family welfare, rural/community development, women and child development, social welfare, etc. Major policy decisions and strategies concerning management of adult and continuing education at state level are made in SLMAs, like in NLMA at national level.

4.1.2 Literacy Funding System

The Literacy and Continuing Education programmes for adults in India is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, an initiative of Central Government, with 2:1 Central and State funding system for initial basic literacy – TLC and PLC, and the five year Continuing Education Programme, with 100% Central Funding for first three years and 50% sharing by State Government for third and fourth year. After its approval, NLM transfers the funds to SLMA for TLC, PLP and CE proposals submitted by SLMA, which along with state share, sends it to ZSS.

4.1.3 Role of Other Government Departments/Agencies in Adult Education

While there is no explicit policy directive for an inter-ministerial engagement either in management or implementation at Central or State level, such an approach has invariably been adopted at District level as a facilitative mechanism for implementing adult literacy and continuing education programmes. Especially in CE programme at district level, the ZSS makes use of grassroots networks under the aegis of different Ministries like Ministry of Youth Development and Sports (e.g. network of youth clubs known as Nehru Yuvak Kendras), Ministry of Rural Development (e.g. SHGs), etc. This is part of the flexibility in implementation modality left to ZSS, as a deliberate policy measure by NLM (NLM, n.d.).

4.2 Role of Non-Governmental Actors in Literacy

In the strategies to be adopted for achieving EFA, Dakar Framework clearly enjoined national governments to ensure that civil society organizations are systematically represented not only in formulation of EFA-NPA, but also its implementation. In deference to this mandate, EFA-NPA formulation process in India was marked by national level consultations exclusively with NGOs, and also in regional meetings with government education agencies. The inputs received through these consultative meetings were built into developing the national perspectives in respect of the EFA goals (MHRD, 2003: viii). This has been a distinct tradition, in fact, a mandate as perceived by NLM from the very beginning in its engagement in adult education (MHRD, 1988). The influence of the non-government sector, i.e., people from outside the administration, in shaping the policy and approach to the literacy movement was far greater than that witnessed in primary education. It would be hard to recall a government funded programme with so much say for social activists, NGOs, and progressive minded individuals in civil society in the leadership, planning, management and monitoring as in the TLCs. In fact, the very concept of TLC itself came from the non-government side. The KSSP in Kerala and its counterpart at the national level, the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) were the architects of this approach, and BGVS remained the official partner of NLM till mid-1990s. This spirit of the people’s movement approach and implementation methods of TLCs, especially the partnership between district and NGOs and civil society’s different organizations and networks at grassroots levels, continues to inform NLM policy even today and in fact, in a more pronounced manner in the CE programmes (NLM, 1994; Athreya and Chunkat, 1996, Ramachandran, 1998; Mathew, 1999).

The text submitted to the Expert Group on “Evolution of Strategy under the NLM”, by the government could be treated as the authentic position regarding the role and involvement of the NGO sector in the literacy movement, and hence could bear a little detailed mention. Referring to the shift from government-controlled, center-based approach, the government admitted that “the real breakthrough came, not out of wisdom internal to NLM but with an experiment in mass literacy campaign initiated in … Ernakulum district in Kerala in 1989. This was not a government sponsored programme implemented by the District Administration but under the leadership provided by the District Literacy Society which had a few persons from the District Administration but also people from all different sections and backgrounds. The campaign for total literacy in Ernakulum … saw a fusion between the district administration headed by its Collector, voluntary groups, social activists and others, and was spearheaded by the Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP [an NGO]).” Referring to those campaigns initiated immediately after the Ernakulum TLC, in States like AP, Karnataka, West Bengal, Union Territory of Pondicherry, etc., the government openly admitted that “A perusal of literacy campaign proposals from the districts of Kerala, … and others which were placed before … NLM … shows that the proposals merely mention that they are submitted for campaigns based on the model of the Ernakulam, [and] … are indicative of the fact that the Ernakulam campaign strategy was adopted as such by the NLMA in other districts… As of August 1994, NLM had approved literacy campaigns in as many as 275 district and post-literacy campaigns in as many as 100 districts. The basic model in all these literacy campaign projects is the same as in the Ernakulam campaign” (NLM, 1994: 8-9). It is clear that a major non-government say in the approach and strategy and presence in organizational structures and management and monitoring system at District, Block and village levels was the distinct feature of the literacy movement. Social activism and voluntarism and partnership with civil society as the guiding philosophy and principle of the mass literacy campaign provided a new road map even for formal school education, as could be observed in the externally funded primary education programmes in the 1990s. But within the literacy movement, there are innumerable examples of enduring programmes which assiduously strengthened its people’s movement character and facets in its design and implementation methods withstanding the vagaries of irregular funds flow from the state and active support of district administration. The perspective of partnership with civil society was further reiterated in “NLM Thrust Areas” in EFA-NPA: “The District Literacy Society (ZSS), the autonomous body which implements and oversees the literacy, post-literacy and continuing education programmes would have freedom now to use grassroots participatory networks like youth clubs, mahila mandas (women groups), voluntary agencies and local self-government bodies like Panchayats, cooperatives, etc., as partners in CE implementation.” (MHRD, 2003: 85). In fact, in the implementation of the Accelerated Female Literacy Programmes taken up after 2001 in low female literacy districts by NLM, the NGOs have been the implementing agencies in States like Uttar Pradesh.

4.3 Interaction between Government and Civil Society

In its very genesis, NLM was conceptualized not as a routine government programme but to make literacy as a people’s mission (MHRD, 1988). The mass campaign for literacy undertaken under NLM auspices, called TLC, had come to be 22 recognized as literacy movement and people’s movement (MHRD, 1992; Mathew, 2000). Certain crucial facets of TLC’s planning and implementation illustrated how the plank, the content and substance of government-civil society interaction in literacy programme had transformed it) into a people’s movement, marking a fundamental and qualitative change of this interaction, and re-defined it. These included the Environment Building campaign, as part of TLC pre-launch preparations, the participatory organizational-management structure at village, Block and District levels, etc. The TLC model, as an epitome of people’s involvement, and administration-civil society partnership its central implementation approach was acknowledged, endorsed and reiterated in NPE’s Programme of Action, 1992 (MHRD, 1992). NLM guidelines on implementation of TLC, PLP and CE have repeatedly emphasized this intent and content of interaction as the very philosophy and the central strategy in the programme’s implementation (NLM, 1996 [a]; [b]).

The government-civil society interaction intent was consciously built in Continuing Education programmes, when NLM stressed that “CECs must be perceived by the people as arising from their own initiatives to meet their explicit needs, and developed as people’s institution in the true sense of the term. And, ZSS was expected to devise all possible ways and means to elicit community support …” (emphasis added. NLM, 1996 [a]: 27).

4.4 Significance of External Aid Efforts to Improve Literacy Levels

External assistance has mainly been for primary and elementary education sector. Externally funded primary education programmes’ focus has been on improving the provision of primary and efficiency of primary education system in retention, participation and successful completion, with less dropouts and greater proportion of students in acquiring minimum levels of learning. The major contribution for the increase in literacy rate between 1991 and 2001 has been primary education (Mehta, 2002) -- primary education programmes as a whole, both externally funded and others under government purview (Ramachandran, 2002; MHRD, 2001).