CONTEXTUALISED MATERIAL
Since June 2006, we have been involved in developing locally-contextualised teaching-learning material. This intervention was conceptualised as a follow-up to a south Asia-level training and research project coordinated by Nirantar and implemented in collaboration with Uppingham Seminars (UK) and the Asia Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE). The project trained practitioners on using ethnographic approaches to research community-level literacy and numeracy practices and then explored ways in which the research findings could feed into developing locally contextualised literacy and numeracy material.
For a published report of this project read Exploring the Everyday
Part I: Crucial Concepts in Ethnography, Literacy and Numeracy
Part II: Research Project Reports
Part III: Designing Material Based on Ethnographic Research
As part of this project a team comprising Nirantar members and facilitators from Sahajani Shiksha Kendra carried out two small research projects – Mapping the Literacy Environment in Two Villages in Uttar Pradesh and Understanding Numeracy Practices around Weights.
Mapping the Literacy Environment in Two Villages in Uttar Pradesh

This study by Nirantar tries to map the literacy environment in two villages in Lalitpur district in Uttar Pradesh, India. Nirantar members for Delhi and local facilitators were involved in the study. Walks through the villages, visual documentation and then individual interviews were employed to ascertain the different types of ‘text’ available in the villages – both in the external environment (public spaces like walls, buildings, shops), and within Dalit homes. Further, the contexts of these texts – who reads and writes them, and what relations of power they reiterate – are explored. Click to read report.

Understanding Numeracy Practices around Weights in Two North Indian Villages

Researchers and facilitators from Nirantar worked in two villages in Uttar Pradesh, India to ascertain the numeracy practices of women. Through observations and interviews, the traditional and standard weights and measures used by women in their daily interactions, and the complex power dynamics underlining the women’s understanding, was documented and analysed. Click to read report.
The studies were insightful and enabled us to see more precisely the ways in which literacy and numeracy were used in the community, especially by women. The research study on Mapping the Literacy Environment revealed, for example, that while it is generally believed that there is an absence of written material in rural environments, in fact a variety of literacy and numeracy texts – like calendars, receipts from the shops, notebooks recording expenditure, receipt of gifts etc – are available in the villages. Such material is usually not considered literacy material and therefore rarely forms a part of the literacy curriculum. We decided to use this as a take-off point to begin creating educational material that would help the women to ‘read’ their own environment and facilitate in the process a sense of empowerment that comes from being able to independently access knowledge and information. Enabling the women to use their newly-learnt literacy and numeracy skills in their own environments, and including such material in the literacy programme we believed would make SSK's literacy programme more effective.

For a more detailed account of the process click to read this report.