Family Literacy Program

The Family Literacy Program is an intergenerational initiative which aims to increase the literacy levels of parents and older siblings of children in the CRI partner schools, so that they learn together. Initiated in 2003 the program has made more than 3,600 non-literate parents and older siblings literate in basic literacy and math skills.

The Family Literacy Program offers 100 lessons in basic literacy and math skills developed by adult literacy experts. These lessons are divided over two sessions, each of six months duration. The first session is devoted to practice in lessons 1-50 and the second session to practice in 51-100. The lessons include reading, writing, speaking, listening and computation activities for parents. Two partner schoolteachers from each school are trained in adult learning. These are the same teachers who teach children in the morning.

Before starting the session the learning levels and aspirations of the learner are assessed. Mothers, siblings, grand parents are eligible. Priority is given to candidates who do not know how to read or have a low level of functioning in literacy or math. Inventories are taken at the beginning of the new session to assess the literacy ability. The family literacy trainers are responsible for carrying out after-school literacy sessions twice a week for 1 ½ hrs for one year. Approximately 20 parents enroll in each session. CRI provides translated family literacy lessons 1-100 for the sessions and material required to implement these sessions.

The material provided in the literacy lessons includes stationary items, art material, number line strip 0-100, number cards 1-25, play money, word rings, sentence strip, spinner card, counters for games, number card (0-20), printed calendars and much more. Monthly meetings are held to monitor and evaluate the program. The trainers in these meetings are given material and Technical Assistance for planning of their sessions and providing opportunities for networking and feedback. The Family Literacy team provides facilitation during the parenting session too. Certificates are distributed at the end of each session among those parents who have successfully fulfilled the requirement of the literacy classes that is maximum attendance, observation of performance during technical assistance and through pre and post inventory evaluation.

There is an open house for parents to share their learning with community. In addition to imparting literacy skills, the literacy sessions provide mothers with an opportunity to share their experiences, cooking recipes, remedies for common illnesses and find solutions to various problems.