“Illiteracy- The inability to read and write a simple message in any language” (as per the UN’s definition) Let’s first analyze this definition closely. An illiterate person is like a handicapped person who is unfamiliar with the happenings in his surroundings, cant even drive because of his lack of ability to understand the basic symbols and traffic signs, cant read menus and the list goes on. It’s like you can’t be independent.The illiteracy rates vary from region to region depending on the factors like w
ealth and urbanization. One common thing to be pointed out in the countries with high illiteracy rates is the social custom which curbs the education of females. The main reason I find behind the progress of developed countries is their high literacy rates. This is because high literacy rates mean more knowledgeable and skilled people in the country (what we call human capital). Literate people can understand and learn the things more easily, so they enjoy a higher socio-economic status as well as catalyze the development of the country as a whole. Even if we look into the history, we will find that literacy is the pre requisite for development of the country. The countries like Burkina Faso, Afghanistan, Niger, Guinea, Benin, Somalia, which have low literacy rates also hav
e lower developing rates in comparison to countries with high literacy rates. ( see: illiteracy rate graphs at www.nationmaster.com).
Its hard to figure out whether the issues like child labor, population growth etc are cause for high illiteracy rate or whether the situation is other way round (i.e. its illiteracy which is the mother of all such problems). The query is same as whether the egg came first or the hen. Whatever may be the answer, one thing is for sure that there is a cycle of issues, all interconnected, and fighting against one will definitely affect the chain.
Due to the lack of the ability to read the newspaper, many people remain unaware about the inside story of different elected parties and they take the wrong decisions while casting their votes (in case of democratic countries), which leads to bad governance and problems like unemployment, poverty, etc never taking a back seat. To liberate ourselves from the shackles of ignorance, poverty etc, we need to get out of this vicious circle.
The measures taken so far includes free teaching sessions, educational seminars, programmes and workshops conducted by different organizations. Involving people in different works to create leadership opportunities for youth, learn the acts of fellowship ,.Building up of new schools, colleges etc in all parts of the country is yet another step taken in this regard.
The major reason behind the failure of these programs and actions is the non – participation of people living in rural areas, lack of awareness, corruption involved while utilizing the money donated for building of the schools and colleges. Also the government puts more emphasis on deficit models rather than analyzing the situation properly and making people learn the things they are good at. People are forced to learn the things in which they are least interested and thus it hinders the development of their personality as a whole.
People should be allowed to choose their area of interest and then the respective teaching sessions should be conducted. Moreover the capital donated for building up of educational institutes should be kept under check by vigilance department. Moreover the illegal practices can be stopped by keeping a track on the whole development process, from construction to management of the educational organizations. The practices like paper leakage, lack of staff and mismanagement at the educational institutes should be checked. We,the youth have got the freedom of speech. Lets join hands and enlighten the world.
encourage people to stop illiteracy and donate money for illitrates
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