A 56-Year-Old Finally Learned To Write His Name — Because Of A Coronavirus Lockdown via WAMU

Dehradun

A 56-Year-Old Finally Learned To Write His Name — Because Of A Coronavirus Lockdown

WAMU: 4.25.2020 by Sushmita Pathak

All his life, 56-year-old Pratap Singh Bora has been sticking his thumb in ink to sign documents. He didn’t go to school when he was a kid. Little did he know that he would learn to write his first words at a coronavirus lockdown center during a global pandemic.

═════════►

On April 10, Indian authorities housed Bora and dozens of other stranded migrants in a school converted into a relief camp in the town of Tanakpur along the India-Nepal border. India has set up more than 20,000 camps across the country to provide food and shelter to poor people affected by the lockdown.

But at the Tanakpur relief camp, residents get something extra: an opportunity to learn.

═════════►

When the relief camp organizers first tried to get him enrolled in the literacy program a few weeks ago, Bora was hesitant.

“He was embarrassed that he was the oldest of all the students in the class,” says municipal official Prema Thakur who teaches the laborers. Most of the students are in their thirties, says Thakur. “He used to say, ‘what am I going to do learning to read and write at this age?'” says Thakur.

But Thakur and her colleagues motivated him. They brought notebooks and pencils for their students. And after just two days of classes, Bora was able to write his name in Hindi, Thakur says. In fact, he learned faster than many of his younger classmates, including his 30-year-old son, Thakur adds.

“It felt really nice [when I wrote my name],” Bora says. “When I was a kid, we used to live in a hilly area and there was no school nearby.”

═════════►

Shukla says laborers mostly come from states that have very low adult literacy rates. India has more than one-third of the world’s illiterate adults.

Literacy programs for adults in temporary settings like relief camps are not new. Refugee camps have had similar programs for years. But conducting reading and writing classes in facilities for people stranded due to the coronavirus is a novel idea. Such shelters in many parts of India lack basic sanitation let alone learning opportunities for their inhabitants.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 8

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. Old

(Seventh and Eighth graders)