Dear GKD Members, Warm greetings. In reply to P Rajendran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> who wrote:
> Dear GKD members, > > I thought you might find this article re. the use of > ICT to help women inmates in India of interest. > > Best regards, > > P Rajendran > NIIT > **************************************************** > For Tihar's women inmates, illiteracy is no hurdle > for learning computers > Indian Express, March 8, 2002 > > New Delhi: The women in Tihar will get to learn the > nitty-grittys of > computers for a week. However, the only problem is > that many women > inmates are illiterate. It might be a good idea to design multimedia programs that make use of text, images and sound(Voice). This experience is empowering in itself. The users can then use click and point methods for navigation purposes. This will help and empower those who are illiterate and give them incentives that they can be part of the learning experience. This is what makes us humans, Illiteracy should not be a barier to our quest for knowledge as well as self empowerment also to share our experiences and wisdom with others. > NIIT's North India operations head Ajay Lal said: > "Twenty women inmates > will be trained for a week on everything from the > Internet, E-mails, > home budgeting and even planning their children's > future. We have also > created caches of certain women-oriented sites since > they will not be > allowed to use the Internet inside Tihar. The caches > will give them an > idea of the Internet." This is a good idea as it is targeted for that specific use. > Most of them seem comfortable with the computer, but > one of the inmates > confesses: "I am not used to this. But I guess > learning this will help > me later on, after I am released." Members of society like these need all the help they can get in learning. Opportunities like these will help empower them in a positive way. Also courses can be designed in an intranet format where they can learn while in prison. Sometimes small opportunities can change a person's life for ever. > With this venture, NIIT hopes to replicate the > success of an identical > programme conducted in the men jails. Superintendent > of jail number 3, > O.P. Mishra said: "The Swift Jyoti training > programme in the men's > jails helped the inmates a lot, especially with the > legal work. They > have formatted various forms of appeals and > applications for their > appeals. In fact, many of them have written their > own programmes." This all about self empowerment. There is a section on ICT and human rights. It is all about empowering individuals to their best ability. I guess these programmes are doing well in that respect. > The problem however, jail officials say, arises in > the women's jail. > > "Most of the women who come to Tihar for even a week > are taught to > write and read their names in Hindi and English. The > level of literacy > is poor here and many of them are only Class VIII > pass," DIG (Prisons) > S.S. Sidhu said. Literacy is a problem worldwide for a lot of communities. The main thing is with the help of technology life can be made easy for these people by creating opportunities where information and help is available at all times. A library can be setup with ICT facilities where tutors can help these inmates get to grips with learning. Also stand alone machines with CD-ROMs can be setup for educational purposes. Learning should not be seen as a privilege it must be something every nation should promote if they are ready to empower their nation. > "In fact, the literacy divide in jail 6A (the > women's jail) is huge. > Either we get inmates who are illiterate or those > who have completed > only primary or secondary levels of education. And > then there are those > who are professionals from well-off families who are > in Tihar for > primarily dowry-related cases," a jail official > added. Courses can be designed to cater for the different level of learner needs. The main thing is opportunities to be available for these inmates so that they feel that they can be part of the learning experience. > Echoing the official, an inmate said: "I am a > professional and have > worked on the computers for a long time. In fact, I > would conduct most > of my business with overseas clients through the > Internet." This just shows how people are not aware of their potential and how much they can achieve. They can also empower other people if they are encouraged > She added: "I am excited about this course as after > we are through with > it, we will be able to teach other women in this > jail. But most of them > here have no idea what a computer is or what it can > do. Many of them > today, don't even know that we have computers in > this jail." It is all about awareness and creating opportunities. > NIIT however believes that it can surmount this > problem. "The course > instructors will be teaching primarily in Hindi, so > learning computers will > not be a problem," Lal said. > > He further added that at a later date, NIIT does > plan to introduce > regional language programmes so that the computer > literacy movement can have a larger reach. In today's quest for knowledge 'IT Literacy' is as important as 'Traditional Literacy' was important for centuries to empower mankind. So hopefully good positive learning outcome will come out of these initiatives to empower the nation of India through IT. I got hold of this url from the digital divide list <http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org> for the organisation below: http://ict.takingitglobal.org/ Michael Furdyk | Director of Technology phone=416.928.3362x4225 | fax=305.723.0410 http://join.takingitglobal.org/mfurdyk It is a great website with so many opportunities for digital divide initiatives as well as partnerships so please feel free to explore and join it. I tried to take part in the discussion for the following conference. It is amazing how much we can empower communities across the world with technology: On the Left corner there are buttons for different continents and if you follow the European Link under the Latest Events Section you will find the url for: First International Conference on IT and Information Literacy: http://www.iteu.gla.ac.uk/IT&ILit2002/Net/index.html Warm regards to all. Mrs. Lulu Todd [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.somalilandforum.com http://www.tawakal.co.uk ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
