HASSAN: The Hassan Zilla Saksharata Samiti has the honour of participating in a two-day "National seminar on literacy" in the context of Education for All global monitoring report 2006, organised by United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), from April 18 in New Delhi.

The samiti is one of the two in the country, which were selected to represent in the seminar, according to zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer F.R. Jamaadar. UNESCO had selected the Hassan samiti because of its record of 10 years. The samiti had ushered in a "silent revolution" in rural parts of the district, says samiti secretary S.S. Pasha. The Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) was started in Hassan in 1995 to meet specific target within a stipulated period.

Scientific approach

Mr. Jamaadar, who explained the problems faced by samiti volunteers, he said that volunteers tried a scientific approach to draw the interest of villagers towards literacy first by enquiring about their welfare, their field of interest and requirements. The Continuing Education Centres (CEC) were transformed into neo-literate self-help groups (NSHGs). To see that these groups ran successfully, volunteers had touched the problems faced by them and tried to address them with their limited resources.

The success in the two villages had enthused other villagers. This helped the samiti in forming more NSHGs. The number of groups, which was two in 2000, rose to 3,000 in 2006.

According to Mr. Pasha, these groups benefited over 50,000 women in the district. The transaction of these groups exceeded Rs. 20 crore and over 90 per cent of these groups were linked with banks.

The members, who enrolled themselves with the NSHGs, were those who went through the ordeals of poverty and they were from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and backward classes. They were daily wage earners in coffee estates, coffee curing works, and beedi industry.

Their wages were less than Rs. 40 a day. The crash in price of coffee in the international market affected the workers badly. It was at this juncture that the NSHGs came to their rescue. The samiti had helped these groups get loan from banks. Instead of waiting for employment, members of these groups became self-employed. While some groups started bangle stores, some bought cooking material, pandals and sound systems and started giving them for rent.

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