Promoting literacy in Silchar

Rotaract Club of ­Silchar Royals, RID 3240, launched a functional literacy project titled ‘Hosla’ at the ­Madhuramukh School in ­Dudhpatil village near Silchar. The project, begun in July, is a three-month computer training programme and 50 children from Classes 2–10 have been enrolled in the first batch. Computer basics such as MS Word, Excel and Paint are covered in the programme and course completion certificates will be issued to students at the end of the training. “It is such a huge success that even teachers and some parents have also joined to learn about computers,” says club president Animesh Paul.

The Rotaractors visit the school every Sunday at 11am and handle the classes. “We also teach the older students and teachers about the various government education schemes such as scholarships, and how to fill various applications,” says club secretary Kirandeep Kaur Arora, adding that some of the students have even availed scholarships this academic year. The Rotaractors teach the students banking procedures such as filling up a cheque, applying for an education loan, opening a savings account, and also online banking. “The students, as well as the teachers, are interested to attend our classes and there is no absentee on Sunday mornings,” smiles Paul, adding that the team trains teachers to operate Google Meet and Zoom to conduct online classes.

The club plans to extend this programme for the entire year and “if the next year’s leadership is interested, we will go ahead and even include more schools,” says Kirandeep.

The one-year-old club has implemented a number of plantation drives jointly with other Rotaract clubs. “This synergy was encouraged so that our Rotaractors could get an opportunity to mingle with members of other clubs,” she says.

With a suggestion from the Rotary India Literacy Mission team, the club plans to organise adult literacy classes for women in the surrounding rural areas. RILM has promised to help the Rotaractors with resource books for teaching the adult learners.

A team of Rotaractors from the club visited an NGO, Embassy of Hope, that takes care of orphaned children. “We played games, and sang and danced with them. It was such an exhilarating experience,” she says. The club distributed drawing books and crayons, picture books, chocolates and various goodies to cheer the children.