Learning needs of the rural poor

Without proper awareness of the general masses and their participation many of the national development programmes of the government are going to remain a pious wish. We hear a lot of talks about self-reliance and participation of the masses in the decision making process, etc. but the question remains how a great mass of illiterate people who are devoid of any awareness of the government process and the functioning of the society can be expected to participate voluntarily in the nation-building work. In fact, due to lack of education and awareness, the illiterate masses in the rural areas fall victim to the exploitation of the educated class as well as the government functionaries who are supposed to serve them.

I am not talking of formal education for 70 million adult illiterates. Making them conscious and aware of their own problems is more important for them than to give them formal education. Of course, literacy and numeracy are essential but they should be designed as a part of their own life. The curriculum should be designed with materials taken from their own environment and from within their own experience.

It is necessary to undertake a survey of the adult learners before preparing a curriculum for the adult education. Due to the absence of such surveys, the adult education programme prepared for the illiterates has proved irrelevant in the past and resulted in colossal wastage of government funds and total failure of the programme leading to its discontinuation.

Field studies in a number of our neighbouring countries show that at least six types of knowledge are essential for survival of the poor in the villages. This minimum knowledge would provide them the needed skills for functioning as effective citizens of a country leading to self-reliance for the individual and ultimately for the state. These are: (1) Creating a positive attitude among the rural illiterate to cooperate with and help one's family and fellow men toward work for community and national development. Such attitudes should find concrete expression in one's daily behaviour in the family and community, at work and in all learning environments.

(2) Functional literacy and numeracy sufficient (a) to read with comprehension a national newspaper or magazine, useful agricultural, health or other "how-to-do-it" bulletins and instruction sheets, (b) to write a legible letter to a friend, or to a government office requesting information and (c) to handle important common computations, such as, measurement of land and house, calculation of agricultural input costs, revenues, interest charges on credit and rental rates on land, etc.

(3) A scientific outlook and an elementary understanding of the processes of nature in a particular area (his environment) as they pertain, for example, to health and sanitation, to raising crops and animals, to nutrition, food storage and preparation and to the environment and its protection.

(4) Functional knowledge and skills for raising a family and operating a household including the essential element of protecting family health, family planning, good childcare, nutrition and sanitation, care of the injured and the sick, intelligent shopping and use of money, making clothes and other consumer goods, house repairs and care of environment, growing and preserving food for family consumption.

(5) Functional knowledge and skills for earning a living, including not only the skills required for a particular local occupation, but also knowledge of a variety of locally useful common skills for agriculture and non-farm use.

(6) Functional knowledge and skills for civic participation including some knowledge of local and national history and ideology; an understanding of one's own society; awareness of government structure and functions, taxes and public expenditures, available social services, rights and obligations of individual citizens, principles, aims and functioning of cooperatives and of local voluntary organisations (NGOs).

In the context of Bangladesh, it is obvious that many of these essential learning needs are not acquired by persons who go through our formal system of education. It is needless to emphasise that while attempt should be made to improve the curricula of the formal education system in order to make it relevant to the life situation, it is also necessary to undertake adult education programmes on a nation-wide basis to meet the learning needs of the majority of our population who have been by-passed by the formal system of education.

Dr. Ashraf Ali is professor and Director, IER, Dhaka University.