Read India: Final Data
READ INDIA CAMPAIGN COMPLETED IN 3 DISTRICTS
The Phase I of Read India Campaign was taken up in January 2007 and completed in April. The second and final phase was resumed in June and completed on 31.10.2007.
The evaluation has been completed for centers which were started up to August 15th. For centers started after August 15th 2007, evaluation is being done progressively.
From the evaluation detail available so far, the success of the campaign is heartening. About 72 per cent of the children of age group 7 to 9 who were not even knowing the alphabet of Tamil language and numbers are now able to form words without mistakes and do simple addition, subtraction. About 87 per cent of the children of age group 10 to 14 (or above) who were not able to read even a paragraph in Tamil and do 2-digit multiplication are now able to read Tamil fluently, without mistake and with comprehension. They could do sums of 3 digit division and many of them even fraction and decimals.
Vidyarambam adopted the mode of direct intervention meaning volunteers were identified in every village, training was given and teaching aid material supplied. Each volunteer took about 30 students who were pre-tested for their skills and found below the required level. The volunteers take class every day for about 2 hours and give individual attention to students while coaching..
For every 12 villages one cluster monitor or for every 35 to 50 villages one organizer was appointed who did coordination right from the beginning of identifying the volunteers to the end of evaluating the result. The cluster monitors and the organizers and above them block coordinators are paid honorarium whereas the volunteers from the respective villages have done the service free of cost.
The execution of the campaign was not easy. In most cases, volunteers would not come forward to take the challenge of coaching the children of their own villages. Their parents discouraged them arguing why they should serve for no benefit. In some cases the village panchayat leader would claim that their children are very good in studies and no help from an NGO is required. In some villages they would question the genuineness of the campaign and would not trust and accept our staff. Many villages are remote and one has to walk about 8 –10 kilometers from the main road through forests, rough roads and pass flooding canals. The roads will be deserted and nobody on the road would be found to make an enquiry and one would not find even drinking water until she reaches a village. In such routes there are sometimes anti-social elements who would follow our girls, try to talk and tease them. There was an occasion that our girls got stuck in some village due to heavy rain and took the risk of staying overnight with seemingly good family and spent sleepless night. A girl had come for the training traveling just 8 kilometers without permission from her parents. The parents and a few villagers as a group came about searching for her and it became an issue and had to be sorted out with the intervention of panchayat leader. In some places somebody would guide them through wrong or longer routes. The bus operators would not stop at a place from where the approach could be easier but would take them a couple of kilometers farther and drop them. Sometime the truck drivers would stop of their own and offer a lift. Our girls don’t dare to take a risk.
One organizer brought a few women for training. They all had their bio-data ready in their hands. When our coordinators started checking with them, it was found that all the women were from the same village and no bio-data was true. The women were not knowing what a bio-data would mean. But when a communication is sent to them 2 to 3 per cent of the letters come back saying there is no such address. In a few cases we found that same list of children was submitted by 2 or 3 village volunteers. When enquired we found that except the genuine one others were farce being duplicated.
In spite of all the hurdles narrated above, Vidyarambam has successfully completed the campaign because the cooperation was unbelievably friendly in 96 per cent of the villages. The 4 percent comprise of such villages where there are no habitation, no children, some religious based NGOs strongly rooted would not allow us even to enter the village, some villages though listed do not exist.
The following is the summary of the villages covered in 3 districts.
| District | Blocks | Villages as per BDO | Villages | Centers | Volunteers | Total Children |
| Thanjavur | 14 | 2,056 | 1,828 | 2,084 | 3,733 | 53,993 |
| Thoothukkudi | 12 | 1,838 | 1,652 | 1,708 | 2,255 | 44,420 |
| Tirunelveli | 19 | 2,235 | 2,133 | 2,272 | 3,417 | 62,970 |
| Total | 45 | 6,129 | 5,613 | 6,064 | 9,405 | 161,383 |