Comprehension? No comprehension.

This time when I went for site visits, I decided I had enough of alphabets and counting. Most of the children who are either attending formal schools or non-formal schools can recite the alphabets and count in Hindi. They can also recite the multiplication tables and at places they will also recite out the alphabets and counting in English.

Good. So I would invariably move on to my next question:
"Can you write your name?"
"Yes."
"Will you write it out for me?"
"Yes."
And baring few exceptions they could indeed write their names in Hindi.
"Can you read?"
Shuffling and embarrassed looks. A few daring ones would tentatively nodded their heads. Since we have provided them with books, I would ask them to pick their favorite one and read.

The reading is little bit hesitant as they stumble over unfamiliar words. After they had read couple of lines, I would stop them and ask them to explain what they have just read.

With those words I would hit a roadblock. None of the child could explain what they have read from the textbook. This was uniformly the same across three projects and 20 Non-formal Centers I visited this time. Last year too I had made the same observations and nothing has changed from last year to this year.

In none of the centers have the teachers made an attempt to explain the story to the child.
"Oh, you asked us to give books to the child."
"See", they would thrust the register at me, "we have done what you asked us to."

The children have been issued books and they have been encouraged to read. What is more, they would tell me virtuously, we read out stories to those children who cannot read.

Yes, but what do the words mean? If there is no comprehension, how are they any better than when they could not read.

NOTE: I should make it clear that this lack of comprehension is not limited to the children who attend non-formal centers that we support. It, unfortunately, extends to those children too who attend formal schools.