LITERACY VITAL INPUT IN VARIOUS ASPECTS OF COUNTRY'S DEVELOPMENT
- VICE PRESIDENT
RAISING FEMALE LITERACY THRUST
AREA - Dr. JOSHI
The Vice President, Shri Bhairon
Singh Shekhawat, said that illiteracy is a curse on the county
and is a big handicap in the country’s development. He was speaking
at a function held to celebrate International Literacy Day, here
today. The Vice President underlined that the country can take
care of its population problem, unemployment problem, ond other
social concerns of the country by making the literacy movement
in the country a success. He pointed out that the state governments
are facing resource crunch at present and therefore the literacy
campaign of the centre should also supplement the states in organising
school buildings, teachers etc. Only then, can we truly fulfill
our commitment of compulsory primary education in the constitution.
The Vice President also made an appeal
to every literate person in the country to teach five illiterate
people, saying that this would definitely help to deal with the
problem of illiteracy in the country. He also emphasised that
poor people must have confidence in the usefulness of education.
Now that literacy is becoming a fundamental right, the Government
both at the centre and in the states, must embark upon making
every person literate immediately and in all sincerity, otherwise,
it will end up becoming an empty slogan, he added.
Responding to the issues pointed
out by the Vice President in his address, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi,
Human Resource Development Minister made an assurance that the
government is committed, through the "Sarva Siksha Abhiyan",
towards insuring that no child will be outside the school system
by the end of 2003. He also said that as part of the "Abhiyan",
free education is being provided to all children from classes
I to VIII, school books are being provided free to all girls,
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, studying in classes I to
VIII, new posts for teachers have been sanctioned in thousands
and funds have already been allocated for construction of new
school rooms and buildings.
Earlier, in his address, Dr. Joshi
emphasised that raising female literacy, which is only 54 per
cent at present, is one of the biggest challenges before the country
and is a thrust area in literacy programmes being undertaken by
the Government. He also said that the male literacy rate, though
at a relatively higher 75 per cent should also be made at least
90 per cent. He appreciated the programmes being undertaken in
some states where the effort is to make the women literate as
well as economically independent. He expressed his hope that other
states would also undertake such programmes which till now have
been proving quite successful. The Minister pointed out that the
National Literacy Mission is running 108 Jan Sikshan Sanshthans,
in various parts of the country which impart training in various
vocations to the youth, in order to address the problem of unemployment,
a serious issue in the country.
The Vice President gave away the
Satyen Maitra and NLM – UNESCO awards. This year, the districts
to which the Satyen Maitra awards were given include 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 were
given a shield and citation by the Vice-President.The NLM has
instituted this 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.
The University Departments of Adult
Continuing Education and Extension of SNDT Women's University,
Mumbai, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad and DDU Gorakhpur University,
Gorakhpur were given the NLM-UNESCO award. This award was instituted
to encourage the institutions working in the field of literacy
and adult education, by the National Literacy Mission (NLM), in
collaboration with UNESCO, New Delhi. The award includes a cash
prize of Rs. 25,000/- and a citation.
On the occasion, a special publication
brought out jointly with UNESCO, New Delhi by the Directorate
of Adult Education was presented to the Vice President. The publication
is titled Literacy in India : Achievements and Challenges which
consists of articles written by eminent persons all over the country.
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, also released a book, "School Safety
Manual", brought out by Council for Indian School Certification
Examinations. He also gave away the awards for the National Prize
Competition on Literature for Neo-literates. Manuscripts for this
competition which has been revived this year, were invited in
17 recognised languages and each manuscript was reviewed by 3
specialists and 59 manuscripts were selected for the award.
