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Documentary, The Quiet Revolution - Literacy Social Reform - India PBS
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01:00People are quietly changing their lives.
01:04Their stories are stories of hope, of individuals transforming themselves and their community.
01:12It's a quiet revolution.
01:44It's a quiet revolution.
02:08Our little Kerala lies in the south of India along the Arabian Sea.
02:13I have lived here all my life.
02:21Years ago, this area was completely underwater.
02:26The serfs who work for the landlords did the back-breaking work of dredging mud
02:31to create the rice paddy fields that everyone here works on.
02:45What is particular about this place is that everyone here is living with difficulty.
02:51The people here are hard workers.
02:54If they don't work, they can't eat.
03:02Even so, Kerala is a model for all of India.
03:06In education, health, community development and literacy, Kerala is very advanced.
03:16The whole world can learn from Kerala.
03:22The whole world can learn from Kerala.
03:28The whole world can't be
03:39as a man who's in the south of India along the Arabian Sea.
03:40The whole world can learn from Kerala.
03:53I first heard of the literacy program through the newspapers they were looking for volunteer
03:59teachers I signed up and attended a training seminar I was deeply impressed by this class
04:07because it dealt honestly with the way poor people actually live I immediately thought
04:14come what may I will teach someone in my neighborhood I began by inviting people to the class
04:46at first those who were illiterate were reluctant to come to class there were some people who would
04:52tell me honestly I don't know the alphabet but most people were embarrassed and kept quiet
05:01three out of twenty people in the world live in India two of these three are illiterate in India
05:08sixty-six percent of the population is illiterate to encourage people to come to class we organize
05:30plays and rallies even though Kerala has been in the middle of Kerala's plays and rallies
05:59even though Kerala has a strong history of education there are still three million illiterate
06:05people here for these three million we have recruited three hundred and fifty thousand instructors
06:30after the rallies a few women began coming to class
06:56there are three kinds of students in my class those who can already read a few lines those who can
07:03read
07:03some words and those who can read only two or three letters
07:06the women have done such hard manual labor that for precise work
07:33like writing their muscles are too stiff one woman couldn't even draw a circle
07:45it took her a whole week to write the letter K it was in literacy class that I first discovered
07:57what patience was I learned it from watching my students
08:13I live with my parents and two of my brothers my mother works in the fields when she can find
08:23work and my brothers are road workers
08:45my parents are very poor and it was a sacrifice for them to send me to college
08:52only my brothers have steady work after I graduate I hope I will be able to find a job
09:21I go to college in Changanacheri it is a two-hour boat ride from my village
09:29I am very fortunate most girls from poor families have to work but my parents believe that it is only
09:36through education that one can improve one's life
09:45when I come home from class I feel sad because Changanacheri is such a stimulating place and in my village
09:54we have so little time for anything but work
10:14the classes are held in the evening because the women work all day they have to get up at sunrise
10:20feed their families feed their families then go to work in the fields when they return home they must finish
10:27their housework
10:28prepare dinner and then they can come to literacy class
10:32normal
10:46okay
10:55no
10:56yes
10:57Station. Station.
11:00Oh, that's a ticket.
11:03That's a ship that's coming.
11:12This ship is on a plane.
11:16That's the ship's you.
11:22I have to go for a car.
11:26Who is me?
11:29I am living in my life.
11:31I am living in my life.
11:32What?
11:32I am living this.
11:35I didn't get to know how to do it.
11:38How did you know your life?
11:39I did not have to go.
11:42What?
11:43I have no idea.
11:44I am also living in my life.
11:45There are just so many people who live here.
11:48I know I have a great life and I will live in my life.
12:04Ellie is a very sharp learner, but the first one to come to class every day is Thangama.
12:18To help support my family, I sell these baskets.
12:22I learned basket weaving from my mother, who learned it from her mother.
12:34I also go to work in the rice paddy fields.
12:42My husband doesn't have a year round job, but during the dry season, he digs mud.
12:50During the harvest season, Kamala, Ellie and I go to work together in the paddy fields.
13:22When the grain is ready, we begin by cutting it.
13:25We have to bend over nonstop for five hours.
13:45Then, we bundle it and thresh it with our feet.
13:57At the end of the day, we take it by boat to the landlord's house.
14:01We get paid in grain according to the amount we harvest.
14:17We go to the forest.
14:18With a push of it.
14:22We have a push of it.
14:24We have to do everything we have.
14:26I can't tell you.
14:28That's why I'm here.
14:30I'm here.
14:30I'm here.
14:31I'm here.
14:31What's going on?
14:34I'm here.
14:36I'm here.
14:36I'm here.
15:02I'm here.
15:03Oh, it's my hand.
15:05My hand.
15:07I'm here.
15:09My hand is my hand.
15:10Why are you looking for my hand?
15:11What's my hand?
15:12My hand is my hand.
15:13Where am I going to sleep and sleep?
15:14Where am I going to sleep and sleep?
15:18I'm not sure when I was to sleep and sleep.
15:20I'm not sure when I was home.
15:21I said, that's fine.
15:22This is my hand.
15:23There is no sleep.
15:25If I keep sleeping and sleep, he's not sleeping.
15:26Man is alive, yes.
15:27There is no way toilless.
15:29He is alive too.
15:30He is alive.
15:32He is alive.
15:35He is alive.
15:36He is alive.
15:38He is alive.
15:42You will be alive.
15:43I will do a while.
15:45I will give him a man.
15:49He will be alive.
15:51He will be alive.
15:52I thought that they thought this thing was good.
15:53But when this was the tirar of my Nossa assimiliesse,
15:55you were looking out for my way.
16:01You were on the right way.
16:02You stayed off, I though we wasn't on the right way.
16:05You were driving around three hundred percent.
16:05Alongside it is the right way.
16:12As far as the right things are on the left,
16:17no matters.
16:17We have to stop this.
16:20If it could have happened, we came to the world's world.
16:39We had to stop this.
16:56Today, we can study and we have our own house.
17:00It used to be different.
17:02Because we were untouchables, we were treated like slaves,
17:05we existed only to work for the landlord.
17:08We had no land, no house, no clothes, no food.
17:13We finally fought back and in 1970 we received the government's support.
17:18They passed a law to redistribute the land.
17:21Our family got land for a small house and a field to grow rice.
17:27That was the time of the landlords.
17:29We used to live in fear. Animals were not afraid.
17:33It was us humans who were afraid.
17:36Now, because of our courage and our struggle for land, we have come so far.
17:41God gave us the strength.
17:43Because of the land reform, we can now turn our minds toward education.
17:58It used to be the Ereva caste on one side and the Nayas on the other.
18:04You always saw a difference.
18:08Even though I went to college, I also believed in separation.
18:13I would never enter an untouchables house or eat their food.
18:21Now, I will visit the women in my neighborhood.
18:25One day, Kamla made me a cup of tea and I drank it.
18:31I used to pass Ellie's house and never enter the courtyard.
18:35We would speak only through the fence.
18:37For some of the boys.
18:39I used to get an untouchables house.
18:44I was raised away from now.
19:33It's time for you to come to the house, I'm going to go to the house, I'm going to go
19:37to the house.
19:37it can be.
19:38No.
19:39No.
19:40That is why we come back to it.
19:42No.
19:42No.
19:43No.
19:45No.
19:46That is why we lived in ััะด for a single week.
19:49So for some years, we were living in the Uttara,
19:53and I was living in the Uttara,
19:54and I was living in the Uttara.
19:59But I didn't even see it with the Uttara.
20:03So I thought if you lived at a mate or not,
20:05and I didn't even see it.
20:07It has a lot of typhoid, my father was example where,
20:15it had no idea, even when you do.
20:17Why are you going to leave this?
20:18Yes, of course.
20:19Yes, I think there is a lot of stuff like that.
20:25What are you going to do now to keep the distance from ?
20:32I'm going check the distance from the very beginning.
20:34No.
20:34Not at all.
20:36I was told they would be very different.
20:40I would have to talk to them all.
20:41They would spend time on my own business.
20:43They would have to talk to them all.
21:11In India, most illiterate people are women.
21:17When we become literate, we will be more aware of our children's health, our husband's health,
21:24our family's living conditions.
21:29It is the women who begin a country's development.
21:36Because I was uneducated, I couldn't even teach my children the alphabet.
21:43Sometimes when they were ill, I didn't know the proper treatment.
21:47You can only teach what you yourself know.
21:55It is not only women who are participating in the literacy program.
22:03All over the state of Kerala, even in the most remote villages, men, women and children are
22:11studying in the literacy program.
22:26From village to village, from city to town, people are learning to read and write.
22:34They are learning about disease, they are learning about the causes of hunger.
22:49Awareness through education is the goal.
23:02No matter what caste or religion they are, once people can read and write, they become
23:09aware of the world and can improve their lives.
23:12No matter what caste, certainly they are learning about the causes of hunger and the culture.
23:22They are mourning, but they have all been raised.
23:36Many schools and other schools, as in particular, have not yet people become a member of the
23:37And after school, have not yet people become a member of the community.
23:45My students have learned so much.
23:48Ellie told me that now she wants to learn English.
23:55When I said that the program was going to be over next month, the class was quite depressed.
24:01They said, Priya, what shall we do in the evenings?
24:05I said, why not read the newspaper or a magazine?
24:09They said, but we'll miss the class.
24:13We'll miss Eliyama's laugh and Thankama's songs.
24:17Let us not stop.
24:24Before, it was difficult for my students to travel.
24:28They could not read the signs.
24:30One day, Maria came running up to me and said,
24:34my Priya, I always had to walk to buy medicine.
24:38Today, I read the sign Kaddipuram on the bus.
24:42I took it all the way to the store.
24:59Besides reading and writing, we have achieved so much.
25:04I remember when Priyama taught us that the earth is round.
25:08At first, I didn't understand what she meant.
25:11That the earth is a round thing.
25:14I even argued with her about it.
25:24We aren't young anymore.
25:27This isn't easy.
25:29But at least, now I know I can read.
25:35These days, even when I have housework to do,
25:38I will go and study.
26:07I will go and study.
26:08I hear about that.
26:10They are not great.
26:12Oh, I think the sun is still alive...
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