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Novel Literacy Programme Benefits Nepali Girls

Kamali is a textbook character who sets the example for young girls taking part in a unique literacy programme. Classes are usually held under a tree

by Jan Sharma
WHEN some primary school were surveyed in Nepal's remote Doti district in 1981, many were found to have no female enrollees at all.
Four of the 11 schools surveyed had no girls while the rest had only a few. Today the situation is pretty much the same But with a difference.
Ask any girl trotting up and down the treeless Doti hills, and she will tell you she wants to be like Kamali.
Kamali is the main character tn a textbook now being rad by hundreds and thousands of young girls who are too busy with house and farm work to go to school, but who can manage two hours a day in winter to learn numbers and the alphabet.
Kamali cooks after helping her mother fetch water from a nearby stream. She tends goats and buffaloes tn the afternoon when she also collects fodder and firewood. She washes the dishes and keeps her home neat and clean.
"O mother, please let me take time out from housework. Let me go with friends to class. Ill get up eariy tn the morning to help you. Let me go for a little while," says Kamali
She sets the example for young girls taking part in the Chli Bett (meaning unmarried girl) programme run by the government with support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Educational. Scientific
and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Under the programme, girls aged six to 15 years are taught with the use of familiar examples and experiences such as kitchen gardening, farming, health and sanitation. Classes arc usually held under a tree In groups of about 20. Those completing the sixmonth course qualify for enrollment tn Grade 4.
Flach lesson, 125 in al) re-
volves around the daily life and activities of Kamali, which the students then discuss. Reading materials are provided by a resource centre for each cluster of schools within the "walking distance" of five to six houre.
Teachers for the programme are recruited from among the village s educated women, who undergo a month long Intensive training espe cialfy designed for the course.
Started in 1983 In the Doti, Bajhang and Bajura districts tn the Seti zone, the programme has been extended to cover 19 districts where female enrollment is lowest.
pome Nepali teachers are worried that the. Chcli Beti programme may In fact de-
prive young girls of proper schooling.
Children should be encouraged to go to regular school and not Just attend classes for six months. As 1 understand, Cheli Beti courses should be for teenagers who missed formal schooling In their early years for one reason or another." says Ton Thapa, a
But for others, the Cheli Beti course Is an acceptable
compromise in a poor country like Nepal whose per capita income is less than USS 170, and were many children are apl to miss school anyway because their parents need them to help in the house and farm.
As much as 40 per cent of Nepali children of primary school age are not getting any education, and 70 per cent of those enrolled drop out before they complete their five years of primary school, according to the Ministry of Education and Culture.
It is the girls who are more often tapped to help with housekeeping and farming chores. They not only have a low enrollment rate of less than 30 per cent, but also have
the highest dropout rate.
So far. some 5,000 girls have undergone the Cheli Beti programme which is gradually being extended to other districts.
Aside from Its informal teaching style, a Chcli Beti Course is remarkable tn a number of ways.
Conventional learning is one-way with the teacher as the source of knowk-dge. The students merely repcut what the teacher says without giving the information much thought. Not so with Cheli Beti where teachers encourage their students to think for themselves.
For example, a teacher hangs a poster showing rats attacking a grain storage. Kamali wonders what to do. The students. guided by the teacher, discuss what is going on and what could be done to the problem of rat infestation.
When the girls return home, they take up the problem with their mother and other members of the family.
Pictures and visual aids are-used. extensively to encourage creative thought.
A lot depends on the dedication and creativity of the teachers. To spur them to work harder, they are paid on the basis of work performance.
Chcli Beti teachers are also expected to be change agents in the community, from convincing parents to send thetr children to school, to enhancing self-reliance among villagers — Depthnews Asia.