The document summarizes an adult women's literacy program started in the village of Guptapada, Odisha, India. Initially, none of the village women felt they had time for literacy classes. After motivation sessions, 38 women signed up. Classes were split into three groups based on learning ability. After the first month, attendance averaged 71% with some women achieving perfect attendance. A test showed progress between 60-85%, which was encouraging. The program aims to make the women functionally literate to help develop the village.

1. BRIDGE TO
HOPE
Illiterate women in
Odhisa find power in
learning to read

2. Women are not inferior to men on the
basis of intellectual power or ability.
Women have the willpower and
creative energy to do any type of
work. Whatever the form of action,
women can attain extraordinary
heights.
- Amma
“

3. Nearly every adult in
Guptapada, a semi-tribal village
community located in Khurda
district of Odhisa, is illiterate.
Fortunately, the children
and teenagers are receiving
some level of education in the
local schools now.
The main occupation of the
people there is collecting
firewood from the nearby forest
and selling it in the market.

4. Amrita SeRVe
started Adult
Women
Functional
Literacy—a big
step forward.

5. At first, none of the village
women felt they had the time to
learn to read and write. But,
several motivation sessions were
organised.
Devotees from the nearby
city of Bhubaneswar were called
to talk to the villagers about how
literacy could help their lives.

7. The number of women who
signed up for class was 38. Two
teenage 12th pass girls from the
village were recruited to help
teach the women.
On an auspicious day, the
inauguration of the program
was done, with the sarpanch of
the village attending as the chief
guest.

8. After a few days, the class
automatically split into three
groups, according to the
learning capacity and speed of
the students.
Another teacher from Amrita
CREATE joined in, making it
three teachers for three groups.

9. The first group is learning basic
letters, while the next has
mastered more than half the
letter chart. The high group has
moved on to maatras (vowel
combinations) and simple
words.

11. One of the things for which the women are grateful is that now they will
be able to read their own prayers instead of having to only hear them
recited by others.

12. Recently, the program
completed its first month of
classes. The average attendance
was 71%, with 10 women
achieving 100% attendance.

13. A small oral and
written test was also
conducted to gauge the
progress of women.
The scores were in the
range of 60%-85%,
which is encouraging.

14. With Amma’s grace, soon
the program will bear fruit in
the form of functionally literate
and aware adult women, who
can then play a vital role in the
development of the village.