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Dec 17, 2007
"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young." --Maya Angelou
World's Fastest Literacy Program
Is it possible to help an illiterate rural woman learn to read in a week? According to Victor Lyons, founder of Tara Akshar, it is. Lyons, a 57-year-old Briton, has a background in mental health and IT, and has created techniques that do yield such results -- when the class size is 1 or 2. Interestingly, though, when the class sizes are scaled up, they can still teach the same population how to read in a matter of 30 days, with a success rate of 90%. His organization's goal: to teach 1,000,000 by 2012. Says Lyons: "A newly literate woman gains self-esteem. She can now read the documents that banks and husbands make her sign. And she will now encourage her children to stay on at school and be literate."
BE THE CHANGE
In this video, Founder Victor Lyons talks about the connection between health and education, and how, as a foreigner, having to learn the local language has helped him create a more effective educational program. More ...
