The slogan- “Each One Teach One” is a motivation for the educated class to understand their moral and social responsibility of teaching at least one illiterate person, marks a big difference in the society.
Our society is quite influential in deciding our satisfaction for life. The way we perceive it makes us feel low or high. Not every individual in our society is equally privileged.
The government policies and laws may promise many rights to the underprivileged children and make attempts to eliminate or reduce disparity, but it is a fact that many children are devoid of the right to education
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If we want to see the children of all classes, even from poor households to be literate and aware of their basic health, hygiene and grow up as educated citizens, we must come forward to teach them. It is our social responsibility to share our wealth of knowledge and learning with the less privileged section of the society.
We might argue that there are NGO’s, semi-government bodies and many Non profit organizations dedicated for this purpose.
However it is true that the educated mass of the society which includes the students, the educated house-wives, working professionals and college going students can play a vital role in educating the underprivileged children. Every individual’s contribution can bring about a significant positive change in the current state of illiteracy.
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The collective power of each contribution from each individual’s insignificant acts is immense and can help fill the gaps in education provided by formal schools. Most underprivileged children either miss school education or attend schools where teachers are under trained. They are mostly constrained by finances in low income households which can hardly manage to earn them bread and shelter. Children of rickshawalas, labourers, maids and other groups on society who do not have access to quality education can be benefited if we are ready to educate them.
If the privileged sections of the society voluntarily come forward to contribute to this noble cause, an enormous change could be brought in quality of life of underprivileged children.
At least providing functional education to the children so that they have the reading and writing skills to help them cope up with everyday needs can make a positive difference in their lives.
Not only children, but also adults who remained illiterate due to poverty and are earning their livelihood by doing meager jobs can be taught or educated. This can help them become more aware of their rights and not be cheated or befooled by upper sections of the society. Also educated or literate mothers can bring a positive difference in the lives of the children they bring up.
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The major drawback with the operating NGO’s and social organizations is that their services do not often reach the common man. As a result, not much difference is brought about in the state of illiteracy and related problems of the country. People with will and intention to contribute to a noble cause in the society can go a long way with their little contribution.
Intention must be accompanied by action or initiative in this direction. You can choose a convenient place like your house/office or neighborhood to teach one child which is reachable for the child. While dynamic and hyper-active individuals make it to NGOs through contacts and networks to give their services, an educated individual who does not have a network or is not outgoing cannot reach NGOs. Such individuals can provide their teaching services through informal channels to make a contribution to this cause.
The potential of educated individuals who are not associated with NGOs but have skills to, need to come out with a systematic coordinated effort to create an influence. Small informal organizations or groups can reach all sections of society while not being closely tied like members of formal groups. The impact, reach and the popularity of such groups should not be undermined as it can match the actions of NGOs operating at a large scale.
“Each One Teach One “representatives can have some kind of coordination through meetings to keep a track of the activities going on and having some prominent members like leaders, coordinators and facilitators to enable this. The best thing about such informal systems of education is that they have no legal norms to abide by and can contribute more freely and reach the masses easily.
All that is needed is a will to teach combined with initiative taken by the society. Even the underprivileged children or adults to be taught should be taken in confidence and benefits of education understood by them to make them receptive for the purpose. If the educated class devotedly comes out to work for this social cause, we can easily reach our aim of freeing the nation from shackles of illiteracy.
