Realising that the ignorance and illiteracy are the barriers that disable the people in understanding and exercising their fundamental rights, AREDS has been involved in promoting Non Formal Education amongst the rural masses to help them gain awareness of their socio- economic environment and find common solutions through collective action.

BUILD WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

If one knows how to draw the above symbols, one can write all the alphabets, vowels and consonants, which count to 247 in Tamil. These symbols or simple drawings are known to all the rural people. In the day to day activities these signs are very much used, seen and experienced by the rural people A striking example is the Kolam or the dot-and-line drawing that is drawn in front of the house by rural women who dexterously and effortlessly join the dots to make a complete design. A symmetry so perfect, that an engineer cannot probably achieve even with his instruments.

This capacity of drawing is there in them. The sun, crescent, or various religious symbols are drawn on the wall during festivals in the villages. While teaching or helping the illiterate to become literate, one needs to take away the myth that learning to write is the most difficult things in one’s life. If the teacher is creative and discovers the capacity of drawing, the members of the village community are endowed with; making them learn to write will become a simple and joyful experience. We need to use the vocabulary with which the people are most acquainted with. If one asks them how to draw a circle they may not able to give an instant reply. It will be difficult for them to tell that they know how it looks like, though they have seen it many times. Instead if the learner is asked to draw the sun surely she/he will draw it in a second.

If you put the above three letters together it becomes the word AMMA - Mother. The time taken to learn this is only few minutes. As they write this, you can see their feeling of joy, wonder and achievement. They will exclaim: Oh, is it so simple

This is what we mean ‘Build with What U Have’. In this process
• The learner comes out of myth that learning is an arduous work.
• Her/his self-worth and self-confidence are enhanced when she/he realizes that after all the
animator or the teacher has only tapped the capacity already in her/his possession.

That is what Education means: TO BRING OUT WHAT IS ALREADY IN YOU
In the same way the real meaning of DEVELOPMENT IS TO BREAK OPEN. Opposite of Envelope - to close

The Non Formal Education is based on people’s everyday experiences and their problems. It is problem - oriented and issue - based education. Here the teacher and the student change their roles constantly and the whole village becomes a school where the teacher and the taught are brought to the same level.