Education Outlook for Assam 2011

As per the 2001 Census, Assam has a literacy rate of 63.3%, slightly lower than the national literacy rate of 65.38%. The literacy rate in Assam can be broken down to show a male literacy rate of 71.3% and a female literacy of 54.6%.According to the ASER Report 2010, only 45% of children in Std. V can read Std. II level text and only 62% can do division problems.

Pratham in Assam this Year

Geographical Coverage: 1200 villages in 12 blocks
Children Reached: 20,264
Volunteers Mobilized: 2,400

• Pratham is currently running the ‘Read India’ (RI) program through Block Excellence Programs (BEPs) in Assam. 2 volunteers per village are mobilized in each of the 100 BEP villages to teach a group of 20 25 children, who are all well below their expected grade level competencies. One volunteer teaches children in classes 1 & focusing on basic literacy and numeracy skills, while the other volunteer teaches children in classes 3-5, focusing on reading fluency and comprehension, as well as Arithmetic operations. Volunteers also teach English, where the focus is on letter recognition, vocabulary building and ability to conduct basic greetings in English.
• Pratham has had a formal partnership with the Assam Government during 2007 and 2008. However, since 2009, due to continual expression of interest, but lack of action on the Assam Government’s part, Pratham has focused largely on building village level partnerships instead of approaching the state and district Governments. While formal MoUs have been signed at the village level, Pratham informed the gaonburrahs (village heads) of its activities and obtained verbal support in almost every village. Pratham has also received support from the community in the form of identification volunteers and authorization for Pratham volunteers to teach schools.
• Pratham worked in partnership with UNICEF in the Reading Enhancement Program (REP) in 8 Districts of Assam. 437 schoolteachers executed this program on the ground with monitoring and onsite support given by 11 Pratham facilitators.

Future Plans

The partnership with UNICEF came to an end in November 2010 but Pratham will continue its effort to be a part of such a partnership. Talks with UNICEF are ongoing regarding the extension of the same Reading Enhancement Program in the tea garden schools of Assam.

To increase the involvement of the community in their child’s education, Pratham is planning to set up Pratham Education Committees (PEC) in every village. These committees will comprise of parents of school-going children with an aim to test children periodically to gauge their progress and also to monitor the volunteer classes.

The EFE program is currently in its preparatory phase in Assam, with the first classes expected to roll out from March 1st. The EFE program intends to strengthen Read India and increase volunteer engagement.