COMPUTER LITERACY CLASS FOR 30 INDIAN GIRLS

Dear Supporters ,

With Greetings for the festival of lights – Diwali – we are happy to present an impact report on the Digital literacy project of IDEA . The second part of this report is the feedback given by an young  girl about her mother .  

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have accelerated economic growth and propelled a wave of engagements that have touched human lives; changing the way communities interact, increasing opportunities for livelihood and crossing the barriers of inequitable growth. ICTs have taken up such pre-eminence in our everyday lives, that we now have access to a bank of knowledge & services at our fingertips. As a result, people in tune with ICTs are no longer isolated and are part of the fast changing global platform. However, there are still millions who are yet to gain access to the ICT platforms for knowledge and opportunities. 

In order to reiterate the importance of Digital Literacy, Government of India has undertaken a flagship programme called  National Digital Literacy Mission ( NDLM ) which is aligned to the Government of India’s vision of making one person in each household in the country digitally literate by 2020.  

IDEA already implementing Digital Literacy programs for the poor , decided to strengthen it by opening centers exclusively for this purpose . One center started in Bopkhel , Pune in July 2015  funded by Tata Communications Limited . With partial support from Symantec Software company we inaugurated another center in October 2015.

Digital Literacy Classes are open for children, youth and men and women . Course includes 40 hours of training to build capacity to find, understand, assess and examine information using digital technology based devices (i.e. computers, mobile phones and tablets). Thus Digital literacy involves a working knowledge and an understanding of how these devices can be used.

 So far around 60 students, most of them are women have completed the course and are confident to access to a bank of knowledge & services at their fingertips

Rekha’s story 

 My name is Anita , I have been supported by IDEA under the Educational Sponsorship program. My mother Rekha shifted to Pune City from a remote village in Maharashtra after her marriage. Studied only upto grade  6 she had no choice other than taking a maidservant’s job to reduce the financial burden on my father  . My father too studied only upto grade 8 and works as a casual laborer in a company . I have three more siblings , me and my elder sister are undergraduate students while our younger siblings are in high school classes . My parents find it difficult to meet our educational expenses so we had approached IDEA for assistance to meet our educational expenses . It is a great relive for parents that major part of my educational expenses are met with a sponsorship support from IDEA, since last few years .

My mother used to attend art & craft sessions , awareness program and functional literacy classes arranged by the organization for women in our community . During one such session she understood about the ‘ Digital Literacy program ‘ . My mother enrolled for the class with hesitation , due to our continuous motivation . She felt like leaving it in between saying ‘ computer is too technical for me  to understand’ . Individual support & counselling from the teacher helped her to overcome her initial difficulty . 

. A few months back ‘THANK YOU ‘ was the only English word my mother used to speak ! Today I am very proud of my mother , she can easily operate a ‘ smart phone ‘ and a computer . She has learnt many English words.

 Dear friends I take this opportunity to say thanks for supporting IDEA’s projects for needy children and women like me and my mother .