INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY TO BE CELEBRATED ON 8TH
SEPTEMBER
The 36th
International Literacy Day will be celebrated on 8th
September. The Vice-President of the country, Shri Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat, will be the chief guest at the National level function
being organised in New Delhi. In the function, awards will be
given to the districts which have performed well in Total Literacy
Campaigns, Post Literacy Programmes (selection made on the basis
of the external evaluation reports) and to the winners of the
national level competitions organised by the Directorate of Adult
Education. Besides, NLM-UNESCO Award will also given to the institutions
selected.
The NLM has instituted
a literacy award in memory of the eminent Adult Educationist,
late Satyen Maitra of the Bengal Social Service League, Kolkata.
The award is given every year to the best performing districts
in the country in the field of Total Literacy Campaign and Post-Literacy
Programme. The performance is judged on the basis of the evaluation
conducted by reputed Social Science Research Institutes. This
year, the districts selected for the award are Mahasamund and
Kanker (Chattisgarh) jointly, and Buxar (Bihar) for Total Literacy
Campaign and Buldana (Maharashtra) and Bikaner (Rajasthan) for
Post-Literacy Programme. The award winning districts will be given
a shield and citation by the Vice-President.
In order to encourage
the institutions working in the field of literacy and adult education,
the National Literacy Mission (NLM), in collaboration with UNESCO,
New Delhi instituted NLM-UNESCO Award in 1998. The award includes
a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/- and a citation. This year, University
Departments of Adult Continuing Education and Extension of SNDT
Women's University, Mumbai, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad and
DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur have been selected for the
award. The Vice-President will give away the awards
This year, the National
Prize Competition on Literature for Neo-literates has also been
revived. Manuscripts were invited in 17 recognised languages and
each manuscript was reviewed by 3 specialists and 59 manuscripts
were selected for the award. The awards (cash prize and citation)
to the winners will be given by the Minister for HRD, Dr. Murli
Manohar Joshi.
On this occasion,
a special publication is also being brought out jointly with UNESCO,
New Delhi by the Directorate of Adult Education. The publication
is titled Literacy in India : Achievements and Challenges which
consists of articles written by eminent persons all over the country.
