The hidden agendas in literacy primers. A report from West Bengal
Bandyopadhyay, S.
Manushi 1995(87): 10-12
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0257-7305 PMID: 12319790 Document Number: 293095
A review of primers used in the National Literacy Mission's program in West Bengal, India, revealed a perpetuation of social and cultural ideologies that deny women human rights. Although the texts were intended to promote women's equality, this goal has been compromised by the reduction of women's rights to mean small family size. Utilized is a pedantic approach that attributes marital problems to large family size, without consideration of broader cultural issues. Discrimination against female children is opposed because it undermines their ability to make an economic contribution to their families, not because it denies them human rights. Similarly, maternal mortality is presented as a consequence of having too many children, with no consideration of poverty or the lack of adequate contraceptive choices. To be effective, educational materials must aim to be thought-provoking rather than pedagogical.