It was the late summer of 2006 when I had my first ASER exercise to deliver. Working with Pratham had made me aware of those weaker students who get left behind in a classroom and of the importance of learning assessments. The ASER quest to figure out the learning levels of children fuelled my interest in travelling to reach places with varied landscapes and cultures.
Well, nine years back, ASER and I were both were quite young, so was our energy. I led the Punjab team to find partners (looking up like-minded organisations on the Internet and calling them to fix meetings). Since then, it has been a learning experience, whether it was figuring out the philanthropic or opportunistic mindset of potential partners, fixing the training calendar or managing finances. I conducted the training at four locations each in 2006 and 2007 across Punjab.
Finding partners was an exhausting exercise in the early days of ASER in Punjab. The challenge was to figure out credible organisations in each district which would align with the broader objective of ASER. During partner finalization, we would be approached by smaller NGOs with a commercial-centric approach. Ensuring we only collect accurate data with timely intervention was the key challenge in those years.
Going to the field was always rewarding. I fondly remember training graduates (sometimes Std 10+2 students) in two-day training sessions, which would include a field visit. The ASER testing tool was simple but used to be quite a challenge to explain and ensure that each of the 50 participants understood it. Later, many of our partners decided to make ASER their annual affiliation, as they used it as a structured two-day practical programme for their students.
Collecting data in villages was an opportunity to understand the obstacles in school functioning, both in government and private schools, but it was also about collecting smiles, questions and, of course, enjoying village hospitality in the form of a proffered glass of lassi or perhaps a lunch with saag.
Field visits would also throw up some surprises: On landing in Ropar village once, we saw that no children were available at home for testing. We learnt that the children had mistaken our group for a vaccination gang, and had run away to avoid the jab of the syringe!
In another village, villagers assumed we were economic surveyors there to facilitate their ration cards. Curiosity, eagerness and, sometimes, desperation, were the village colours in the fields of Punjab.
During my travels, I witnessed poverty, rampant illiteracy and the lack of basic amenities in the villages of rural India. These experiences made me more committed towards my moral responsibility to work for the betterment of the underprivileged. In fact, when I look back today, I am sure I would have missed this fundamental understanding had I not been the part of ASER.
(Bharatdeep was the former state head of Pratham Punjab)