Project in Radio Education for Adult Literacy (PREAL)

This project used radio because, although the intended audience was unable to read, they could, and frequently did, listen to the radio. Conceptually, the idea was to start with the spoken word, one which is rooted in folk and cultural traditions, in order to interest and engage the audience.

The project was implemented in what were then considered by the implementers to be the four most backward states of India - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan - in the northern part of the country. 300 Adult Education Clubs (AECs) in the tribal districts and 500 AECs in the remaining All India Radio (AIR) broadcasting areas were set up. There were 4,000 listening groups. Most of them were made up of women in the 16-25 age group, who were married with children, and who had no exposure to media other than radio. The six-month pilot project included weekly broadcasts of 26 programmes, with one repeat broadcast every week.

Training of instructors and development of software were critical to the success of the project. Instructors were trained to use the radio learning package. Training included three components: the role of the instructor, the role of radio intervention in AEC, and lesson-by-lesson transactional strategy before, during and after the broadcast. Literacy was seen not as a mechanistic skill but as an empowering tool leading to action, transforming the process of literary instruction into an active, dynamic process. Once developed, each radio lesson aimed to teach not more than three words, and followed the instructional protocol of: listen and speak, listen and see, see and read.

Since software was integral to the project's potential success, and the key experimental parameter, printed IPCL primers were designed to support the radio programmes. The instructional content was in Hindi and spoken dialect was used to enrich the content, vocabulary and cultural specificity. In areas that were predominantly tribal, the local tribal language was used and the vocabulary built up gradually to standard Hindi. The core content was developed by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT), based on a linguistic study of the intended audience.

An entertainment component was included that was rooted in the local cultural milieu to create awareness about issues of daily survival. This, together with the instructional design, was aimed to develop the ability to listen with attention, recall, and analyse the content of the radio programme. The programmes included the following components for enrichment, motivation and general awareness: storytelling, enactment, audio games and exercises, music and folklore.

Illiteracy, Adult Education.

This project had strong backing from the state owned AIR which, through its extensive network of regional and local stations, had a repertoire of writers, singers and performing artists in all major languages and spoken dialects of the country. The adults addressed in this project were illiterate, but had a vocabulary for at least one language (or dialect).

Despite the efforts invested into the project, there were several factors that seemed to undermine its implementation.

• The high degree of coordination and planning at the central level was missing at the ground level. Faulty on-ground management and training proved to be extremely costly. Hardware problems were by far the biggest; there were not enough radio sets and the ones available were not working or couldn't be repaired.
• PREAL was shifted mid-term from a centrally managed project to a state-level campaign.
• The political uncertainty in the country further exacerbated the problems relating to the project's implementation. Between the time PREAL was conceptualised in 1989 and its first broadcast there were two changes in the governing party. The consequent uncertainty led to delays and glitches in project management.
• The AECs did not function regularly, so the exposure to the programmes was limited.
• The existing level of training of the instructors was very weak. They had a very limited understanding of their role in PREAL, of the instructional strategy, and of the use of the radio readers.
• Radio producers found it difficult to work out the balance between the instructional and entertainment component.
• Social, cultural and political factors discouraged the participation of women, who were intended to be the prime beneficiaries.

Despite the constraints, PREAL did have some success in its goal of non-formal adult learning. The software was sophisticated and pretesting results indicated that the pace of the programme, the culturally specific materials, and the novelty of the radio lessons appealed to the learners and instructors. Key recommendations from this project included:

• Ground level management and training is imperative for the success of such efforts.
• State support is critical.
• Given the changing face of media technology, it may be worthwhile to consider options other than broadcasting, such as using multiple media channels.
• Literacy should involve both the reading and the writing component in the software.