http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?BV_ID=@@@&contentType=EDITORIAL&sectionName=TheWeek%20Statescan&programId=1073755754&contentId=7016637

Tamil Nadu: A literary movement encourages Dalit children to dream big

By Anasuya Menon/Coimbatore 

Curious pairs of eyes follow us down a mud track leading to a tiny settlement in Periamathampalayam, about 25km from Coimbatore city. Pigtailed heads appear at the windows of the low-roofed, mud houses flanking the track. But the heads vanish the instant we catch their eye. But the moment they see Amsaveni, their “teacher”, they rush in droves.

“They knew you would be coming and have applied make-up,” Amsaveni says, rubbing a young girl’s iridescent cheek. The girls seem to be dressed in their best—a lot of gold thread splattered on Chinese silk—and have painted their lips pink. The boys’ faces are caked with talc.

V. Dhandapani and Amsaveni are fighting illiteracy in the hilly villages on the fringes of Coimbatore by introducing children to the joys of reading. Their Arumbugal Vasippu Iyakkam (children’s literary movement) educates underprivileged children about social evils and aids personality development.

Under a roof of woven palm leaves, the children have already gathered to enact a story they had read. The story involves a thenna maram (coconut tree), mamaram (mango tree), alamaram (banyan) and a kuruvi (sparrow). Mohanambal, 8, is keen to explain the story while her friends act it out. “The kuruvi, tired after a long day, sought refuge in the coconut and mango trees. Both refused to help. But, the banyan welcomed her. Later when a storm came, only the banyan survived,” she exclaims, visibly delighted at the just ending.

The Arumbugal Vasippu Iyakkam was started in 2006 by Dhandapani and a few friends. They formed a trust, Adaiyaalam (Identity), which distributes Tamil story books, journals and comics to children, who pass it on after reading. The movement has now spread to 40 villages in Coimbatore and about 60 villages in Salem district. In Coimbatore alone, more than 1,400 children are involved. “Reading with my friends here is a lot more fun than classes at school,” says V.R. Santhosh, a Class VII student attached to the Periamathampalayam reading group.

As many ‘readers’ are illiterate despite attending school, volunteers teach them from scratch. Volunteers are usually youth who have completed school and have no means of further education. They teach, counsel and give hygiene tips. Thanks to this opening, many volunteers are also dreaming big. For instance, Santhosh now dreams of becoming a policeman. “There are a lot of troublemakers here,” he says.

Most of the children belong to the Arundhathiyar community, one of the more backward Dalit groups. Among the kids’ day-to-day challenges are child labour, early marriage, domestic violence and substance abuse. “My friend Manikandan does not go to school. He goes for road [laying] work. But, he regularly attends the reading sessions,” says Sreedhar of Govanoor reading group.

They may be too young to understand the implications of marginalisation, but the children realise they are disadvantaged in many ways compared to city kids. “Very few from here make it to college,” says B. Mythili, a Class XI student in Pannimadai, another picturesque village where bicycles are more popular than the infrequent buses. “We ride from Appanaickenpalayam [the nearest village] to school in Pannimadai. But when it gets late, it is not safe,” says Keerthana. Many girls from the village work in a nearby distillery, earning Rs 100 a day.

Alcoholism is rampant and domestic violence is common, says Dhandapani. Most parents are scavengers and each household earns about Rs 150 to 200 a day, grossly insufficient for the entire family. Reading groups empower the mothers of the children, too, helping them understand the importance of education. Many of them help as volunteers. “I coordinate the group and teach them songs. It keeps me occupied,” says G. Kalaiselvi, whose child attends the Periamathampalayam reading group.Panchayat schools do not open libraries to their students. “The problem is not with the policy, but the way it is implemented,” says Vijayakumar, former member of the state government’s  literacy  movement  and  public-relations officer of Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore. The midday-meal scheme in schools is a relief. But the appalling standards of instruction and the compulsion to earn lead to dropouts.

Though Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s activity-based learning has improved the situation to some extent, it has not helped retain students, says S. Vasudevan, a trustee of Adaiyaalam. According to the Status of Education report 2009 published by Pratham, a Mumbai-based NGO, 72 per cent of children between classes III and V in rural Coimbatore can read only texts prescribed for class I. 

Adaiyaalam survives solely on public donations and it needs more books, as more children are joining the movement. “The few books we manage with are tattered from overuse,” says Dhandapani. “Instead of throwing away children’s books, people could send them to us.” Even as the internet rules the lives of children in the cities, here are a few for whom frayed magazines and tattered story books are a highway to hope.