Afterwards: What Happens to Students When They Complete TARA Akshar?
We have a graduation ceremony which can be extraordinary in the best sense of the word. Despite most of our students having limited communication skills as well as zero literacy skills when they start the programme, by the time they reach graduation they are eager to grab the microphone, read poetry, sing and make speeches. We encourage all graduates to continue with the Reading Club to improve their skills.
We are trying to design a post-graduate programme to utilise their new found skills and enthusiasm.We do realise that there is a huge gap between raising someone from illiterate to neo-literate, and giving them advanced job skills so they become employable. This gap is fillable in urban and peri-urban areas, where we can train our graduates in the skills that the local corporate employers need. But in rural areas, where almost everyone is in the agricultural sector, any jobs are hard to find. Our solution is to offer to train neo-literate rural people as entrepreneurs, plus give them vocational training in the vocation of their choice. This is experimental, and we will report our success or failure in due course.