KBC Sans the Big B?

For decades now, Indian leaders have laid out elaborate plans to eradicate

illiteracy from the country, but none of them seem to have reaped sizable

benefits. But has anyone realized the potential of information technology as a

medium to create a literate India? It has been taken note of and hopefully, will

bring about some much-required changes.

A look at the programs to eradicate illiteracy–Social Education (1951-56),

Gram Shiksha Muhim, Farmers Functional Literacy (1967-68), Non-Formal Education,

Polyvalent Adult Education, Education Commission, Functional Literacy for Adult

Women, National Adult Education Program, Rural Functional Literacy Project,

State Adult Education Program, Adult Education through Voluntary Agencies. These

and many more could not achieve the desired results. The crux of the matter lies

in recognizing the fact that what rural India really needs is tools of

information technology that can be used in a sustainable manner. Take the case

of agriculture, which is dependent on updated and accurate information about the

weather, or the case of animal husbandry, which is knowledge-intensive. All

these would benefit from the use of IT.

Kaun Banshe Aksharpati? The TV and the computer lock horns to eradicate literacy

Professor Brij Kothari, associate professor in Ravi J Mathai Center for

Educational Innovation at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

conceived a project that made literacy a sort of entertainment feature. He

believes that adult literacy programs failed because of their poor

implementation. Kothari’s program has a quiz interface called Kaun Banshe

Aksharpati (Who will become literary rich). It is computer software that will

run on touch screen kiosks to be installed in rural areas. It will basically

test the literacy level of the user and will generate a report in a field where

the user has failed.

A Web camera will record the user’s picture which will be displayed on the

kiosk screen where an anchor guides him or her through some pre-recorded

helpline messages. Characters will be displayed at the center of the screen and

four options at the four corners of the screen will ask you to identify the

right word. The user can then proceed to answer the next question out of a total

of 55. After every five correct answers, a social message will be displayed and

the user will have the option to choose any song out of a jukebox, which will be

played with subtitles. The subtitles, Prof Kothari maintains, will reinforce the

relationship between what a user hears and what he can read. At the end, the

user gets a certificate, which he can print and maintain as a record. The

certificate will also reflect the areas of improvement in characters as well as

consonants. It also gives a critical feedback to the user as well as the

government as far as the level of literacy is concerned. The user can benchmark

his level and try for a better level next time till he achieves his target.

Prof Kothari, a PhD in developmental communication, says his model will

generate revenue and can be sustained for long. "The penetration will be

enormous and companies can take this opportunity to advertise their products

through these kiosks.

This will also help generate revenues to run the kiosks," Prof Kothari

informs.

The government has already introduced computers in schools and almost all the

schools have PCs at their command. With no software to measure the level of

children’s education or the literacy level of the people in the area, the

computers have not given any real proof of their potential. Prof Kothari

believes that it should be either the government or an NGO could run the program

in the rural Indian populace. The software trial run is already over and the

interface is expected to be launched this year.

"Besides, nobody will have to spend anything at all. A village

entrepreneur will install the kiosk and earn money from advertising. What the

government or the NGO need to do is bridge the gap between a potential

advertiser and a kiosk owner," he says. Taking the same concept as a base,

Prof Kothari also plans to explore the medium of TV, which has a larger

penetration. The government spends millions in producing UGC programs and airing

them at a time when no one watches them. But Prof Kothari plans to buy prime

time slots from Doordarshan to air a special kind of Chitrahar, with same

language subtitling (SLS) running below the screen from June this year. SSL

costs a mere 1 paise per person per year.

Binu Alex in Ahmedabad