TARA Akshar Links

Our success stories are the best proof of this groundbreaking programme’s effectiveness. On October 7, 2011, a 22-year-old woman named Radha Bai passed a TARA Akshar final exam, earning her standing as a literate woman. Radha learned to read and write in Hindi at age 22, using the 35-day computer-based TARA Akshar programme. Her classroom performance made Radha stand out of the crowd. Radha’s stellar achievement is even more admirable, considering the fact that she attended classes despite a chronic difficulty with the use of her limbs after a childhood case of poliomyelitis and that she, her husband and their young son live below the poverty line. In the course of her studies, Radha continued to perform challenging traditional household chores, as well as the duties of a wife and mother. Upon completion of the TARA Akshar literacy course, Radha’s confidence level has increased tremendously. She has a newfound sense of self-assurance, and is now determined to ensure that her young son will also become literate.

For women like Radha Bai, TARA Akshar creates numerous opportunities. Learning gives women a new capacity to command respect, both in the home and within their communities. Literate women are better informed about and better equipped to take advantage of government schemes designed to improve their lives. With its added benefit of numeracy, the step-up TARA Akshar+ programme gives women greater leverage when it comes to seeking employment outside the home, earning an income and gaining a sense of personal empowerment. As members of Women’s Self Help Groups engaging in entrepreneurial ventures, women become capable of grasping the terms of business agreements and doing their own bookkeeping. Most importantly, literate women can assist their children with schoolwork, and become more purposefully motivated to ensure that members of the future generation succeed in their studies.