For the uneducated, the letter 'A' is just three sticks, says a proverb. On World Literacy Day, celebrated on September 8, DNA sought to find out NGOs and other organisations that work at promoting literacy, and found out that a number of benevolent souls in the city are silently but ceaselessly working for the cause.
NGO Pratham, provides quality education to less privileged children by means of supplementary coaching. But then, do enrolments of poor kids indeed increase with every passing year?
"Children from the underprivileged classes are definitely keener today than before to attend school," states Nirmala Bajak of Pratham.
Recent trends indicate that poverty-ridden parents are also more willing to send their wards to school now. Bajak says that an increasing number of these parents are conscious of their own dire conditions, and do not want their children to suffer the same fate. When asked about the dropout rate, Bajak says that about two out of 20 students drop out every year, due to various reasons.
Another NGO in the same league, Visamo Kids Foundation, has been selecting deserving children from among the underprivileged, and educating them till class 12. The NGO has now launched something called 'Literature Circle'. "The idea behind this initiative is to inculcate the reading habit in them, and help them enhance their creativity," says Beena Desai, project co-ordinator with Visamo.
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