Analysis Report: Literacy Status Appraisal

UNESCO ASPnet Club: Samtengang MSS

Analysis Report: Literacy Status Appraisal

Global Action Week 2013

Every child Needs a Teacher

1.      Background

The Global Action Week around the corner with the broad theme- Every Child needs a teacher; the UNESCO club of SMSS also took responsibility of participating in the global awareness program. Among the various activities aligned with the theme, we dedicated much effort towards conducting a literacy status appraisal which would give us facts and figures that would enable us to sensitize on the global theme of Education for All (EFA). The appraisal is conducted among the households of Samtengang village which is aimed to figure out the literacy status of the community along with their knowledge on teaching profession and other educational aspects. Through the appraisal we aim to bring out a comprehensive literacy status so that we can create awareness campaigns on EFA.

Aim

Create awareness on Education for All (EFA) and the role of teachers in a child’s life.

Objectives:

Through the appraisal we aspire to:

1.      Collect figures on literacy level in the community

2.      Gather reasons for dropping schools or not being in school

3.      Find out the status of teaching profession in the community

4.      Figure out people’s knowledge on child right and quality education

5.      Analyze and use the information to create awareness on EFA, right for education and teacher importance/gap

The Appraisal

Ø  The questionnaire consists of 18 broad items which varies from literacy status, teacher information, dropout cases, quality education and the right for education.

Ø  Each question is targeted towards gathering an exact answer in order to collect accurate information

Ø  The club members along with the coordinator will visit each household and carry out the study. We aim to cover 50-70 households for the study.

Ø  The information would then be consolidated and analyzed by the club

Ø  An analysis report would be drawn out to get a clear case scenario

Ø  According to the report, the club will plan activities on EFA, teacher profession, educational aspects and child rights in the community

Ø  The same report would be submitted to concerned offices and uploaded online so as to spread the message.

2.      Analysis Report

Through the one day survey, we uncovered many unheard and unrecorded mysteries in the  education statistics of our immediate community: Samtengang. The survey gave in-depth answers to our questions related to education and the club discovered a lot of useful interesting facts. Some of the findings were overwhelming yet few disturbed our weaker emotions.  Thus we present our answers with detail coverage of the minutest elements.

The appraisal covered 40 households with the total population amounting to 255 heads, wherein 123 were male and 132 females. We conducted the study in two villages of Gyelekha and Nyishokha.

It was interesting to find out that 61 males were literate compared to 55 females. 15 of the literate populace attended monastic education while the rest went to formal modern schools. The highest qualification attained by the literate body was Bachelors (2 had formal degree).

On the higher scale, 99 of the total population were illiterate, owing to varied reasons. 56 illiterate members are female. 17 of the illiterate were denied their education due to various family obligations and 1 could not go to school due to the distance of school from his home. 15 could not achieve the modern necessity owing to some interesting yet sad reasons. Some of the many reasons include:

a.      Their parents expired or divorced

b.      Monetary reasons

c.       There was none to help in the fields

d.      One was kept home and their siblings were sent to school

e.       They didn’t want to attend school

It was also encouraging to see that 64 children are currently attending school. Sadly 42 children are school drop-outs. 22 of the drop-outs are female. 10 children dropped school due to family obligations whilst parents of 2 children could not afford the expenses. We were demoralized to a large extent when we discovered that 11 children dropped because they failed in schools. Few felt shy to continue school since they felt themselves too big/matured for their class. In paradox, few lost interest in studies and like anywhere some gave in to their weakness and chose marriage. Few said the school location was the reason while few joined the armed force.

In the other phase of the study, 37 people had knowledge on child rights while 3 didn’t have any idea. Much motivating, everyone agreed to the importance of education. They added that education helps an individual in his life and it contributes to building a better nation.

On quality of education, 27 remarked it as excellent though 12 said it is fair enough. 1 tagged it good. We discovered that people however had very less say on quality of education.

When asked the importance of teachers in a child’s life, respectfully all 40 households agreed to the statement. 19 people consider the teaching profession as noble. However 2 said it is a complicated affair and 2 referred it as a boring profession. On the brighter side, the rest thinks teaching is an attractive job.

Moreover, we were happy to unearth  that 24 school going children wanted to be teachers after graduation.

The last and important question was on retaining current teachers and attracting quality graduates. 19 supported salary hike and 4 suggested providing incentives. 5 households went for retirement benefits while 15 people said that support is more important. 2 opted for career advancement opportunities.  Some told that the concern of teachers should be taken seriously and the government should support accordingly.

This was it and the appraisal ended successfully.