International Literacy Day was celebrated in several villages across West Bengal by Pratham teams. Activities included rallies to spread awareness about literacy, drawing competitions, recitations, songs, games and distributing snacks. Over 1000 children participated across different locations. Celebrations aimed to educate children and communities about the importance of literacy in a fun, interactive way through Pratham's learning methods. Some events faced challenges from rain but were overall successful in engaging children and villagers on the literacy day theme.

1. CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL LITERACY
DAY
SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
WEST BENGAL
Load the books, take your meal and on your marks, get
set, go! Children rush into the school on every new
morning with a new expectation of new learning. But, does the school teachers keep up to
the children’s expectation? If they don’t, the outcome inevitably is children losing interest,
dropping out from school, left to be literate and finally, the literacy level falls.
But, this consequence is not intended. This is where Pratham steps in, bridges the gap, take
the initiative of giving joyful and easy first step learning to all those children who face this
harsh reality of situation adverse to literacy.
Celebration of International Literacy Day in all BEPs and DRC was intended to get all
children and stakeholders of education in a particular village together to spread the
importance of education and thereby the importance of being literate.
Factual statistics of the celebration in West Bengal:
Programme Name of District Name of Block Name of Village Venue No. of Children
participated
DRC (District Purulia Jhalda II Dongal Dongal MSK 250
Resource
Centre)
Bankura Sonamukhi Palsara Palsara Primary 62
School Ground
BEP(Block
Excellence Birbhum Md. Bazar Angargaria Angargaria 120
Programme) Primary School
Darjeeling Takdah Humbusti Goreto Primary 246
School
Takdah
Takdah Bich Gaon
Jalpaiguri Rajganj Jitupara Baldapukur 170
Primary School
Coochbehar Mathabhanga II Mahischaru ICDS School 150
Ground

2. The celebration was held after school. Children of rural primary school hardly know what
literacy is all about. A lecture would rather be irrelevant medium in spreading the meaning
of literacy, its importance to the children. Hence, Pratham team in each BEP and DRC
thought about introducing the Pratham way to celebrate the day with different activities like
drawing, singing, dancing, recitation, games, clay modeling, etc.
The fair ground, before the arrival of the children was decorated with Pratham posters and
with colourful papers. A huge number of children participated in celebrating this auspicious
occasion. This was also an advantageous occasion to spread the name of Pratham among
the villagers.
In Purulia, the DRC team celebrated the International Literacy Day in a village named
Dongal which is around eight kilometers away from the block headquarters at Kotshila. The
children who participated primarily belonged to 2nd standard to 5th standard. The children
who participated are a part of our L2R/R2L programme operational in Jhalda II block.
The programme started with the National Anthem and patriotic songs. Then our team
members gave a brief introduction about the day for the children as well as their parents.
Quiz competition was also held which gave an additional motivation to the children in
answering the questions. Children had shown enormous interest in quiz competition. There
were ten specific questions throughout quiz competition. The students answered all
questions correctly. Therefore, a rally was organized to inform the villagers about the day.
The rally had gone through the all hamlets of the village. There were more than 300
participants in the rally. The students and volunteers carried various posters during rally.
The main focus was to convey message among villagers about the day and essentiality of
education.
This was followed by a drawing competition organized for students of fourth and fifth
standards. The programme ended with distribution of chocolates to the children to give a
joyful ending to the whole day.
Darjeeling celebrated with a total number of 246 children. Around 123 guardians attended
the celebration. Few renowned people also attended the fair and some villagers were
enthusiastic enough to see the celebration. The Darjeeling team got a fair chance to tell the
stakeholders about Pratham. All present were enthusiastic to know about Pratham works.
The team played certain learning related games like Rolly Polly, Melody, aaj ki taaza khabar,
mind maping etc.
Bankura was privileged to find the support of the Pradhan of Palsara Gram panchayat, the
Panchayat Parichalan Committee’s member and the vibrant youth of Vairabi local club. The
62 children and stakeholders were surprised to find a beautiful premise decorated with
posters, pictures and ASER materials.
Bankura commenced the programme with the National Anthem. The children then took their
seats to participate in the drawing competition followed by vibrant recitation and songs
recited and sung by the children respectively. Again, the last but not the least were the
games that were the primary attraction to the children. The excitedly rushed into a circle to

3. play all the games that they play in Pratham’s
centre and were thrilled to get some new games
too. The programme ended with chocolate and
biscuit distribution to the children.
Jalpaiguri had a mixed group of children as well
as their guardians in celebrating the day. Around
170 children and 55 guardians gathered to
celebrate. The celebration here started with a rally
walking from this lane to that lane of Jitupara
village. The children enjoyed their way back to
Baldapara primary School, the venue of celebration. It was now the time for drawing and
clay modeling. Children drew various pictures, colored them with their own imagination.
They made various shapes with clay. Some made snakes, some made pots, some shaped
vegetables and some shaped birds. The last but not the least was the game activities. Mind
mapping, Rolly Polly, Melody, news paper creation were some of the most popular among
the list.
It was 3.30 pm when, having finished all the regular work related to BRC evaluation survey,
the Birbhum BRC staffs, newly appointed GP leaders and their volunteers with 120 children
reached at the local school ground and witnessed the beautiful decoration of event premise.
Though the initial spirit was at high for the organizer to conduct program but within a few
moments their delighted face turned dark and mourned as the rain started.
But there is no natural challenge that can face the high spirited children who had been
waiting eagerly for the programme to start. Thereafter the programme started at the
prepared platform with National Anthem. The next activity scheduled was the drawing
competition followed by recitation. The children enjoyed doing these. Moreover all children
were happy to get appreciation from the elders as performing at their best. The game
activities were, are and will always be an excitement for the children. However, time just
gushed out with all these activities and it was now time for the children to leave for home.
The Birbhum team acknowledged the active participation of all the stakeholders and bid
goodbye to the children with the distribution of chocolates. The stakeholders here
demanded such kind of programme once in a month which inspires the children to learn.
After the completion of the day’s task, the Coochbehar Pratham team reached the
Mahischaru ICDS school ground. They had to reach before the children, after all the team
was the organizer of the International Literacy Day celebration. The children started
entering the ground and the programme finally commenced with a rally. This rally went
through the lanes of the village. The children who were left over to join the celebration,
joined the rally to enjoy a different day with friends—a day to draw, sing, recite and play.
The rally ended at the school ground itself. The children settled down to enjoy in another
fun activity i.e. drawing. This was followed by recitation, singing, storytelling and game
activities. The celebration ended with a small speech on literacy day and its importance. The
children went home happily with candies and biscuits in their hand given by the Coochbehar
Pratham team.

4. However, adverse weather conditions were a challenge to some of the celebrations.
Moreover, the BEP evaluation was operational simultaneously. Despite of it, the celebrations
were successful and children, their guardian as well as the villagers enjoyed a lot with the
Pratham team on International Literacy Day.
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