*India has the most illiterates** * *By PARUL CHANDRA*
* http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/india-has-the-most-illiterates.aspx * New Delhi, Sept. 6: When the world celebrates International Literacy Day on Friday, India would perhaps do well to remind itself that despite the gains made, it still has the highest number of illiterates in the world. The 2001 census had estimated that India had nearly 304 million illiterate people (aged seven-plus). This, despite two nationwide programmes -- the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the National Literacy Mission (NLM) -- being run to eradicate illiteracy. The latter aims at providing functional literacy to non-literate in the 15-35 age group. As per the 2001 census, the overall literacy rate was 64.84 per cent and the illiteracy rate 35.16 per cent. The male population with a literacy rate of 75.27 per cent fared much better when compared to the female population with a literacy rate of 53.67 per cent. The figures taken into account are of those, who are in the seven-plus age group, and are either literate/illiterate. With its poor literacy levels, India ranks a poor 126th in the Human Development Index of the UNDP. For, one of the criteria taken into account for the ranking are the literacy levels in a country. While SSA aims at universalising education in the 6 to 14 age group, the NLM otherwise also called the adult education programme, targets those in the 15 to 35 age group. And while the objective might be the same -- to spread literacy -- there is a yawning gap in the funding for the two programmes. Take, for instance, what the Planning Commission has proposed for the XIth Five Year Plan for SSA and NLM. While the Plan-body has projected a whopping Rs 71,000 crore for SSA in the XIth Plan, for the adult education programme it has proposed a mere Rs 6,000 crore. The Union ministry of human resource development, it is learnt, had proposed a much higher outlay to the Plan-body. While the Planning Commission has proposed that the strategy for NLM be revamped during the XIth Plan, it will not be enough. In fact, the mission which was launched in 1988 and has made nearly 120 million persons literate, has been facing a financial crunch for many years now. For instance, the Plan allocation during the Eight Plan was merely Rs 1,400 crore which was whittled down to Rs 950 crore in the Ninth Plan. It was raised slightly to Rs 1,250 crore in the Eleventh Plan. But the money isn't enough to target the 100 million illiterate people in the 15-35 age group who the mission needs to target. And then there are another 150 million people who are in the 35-plus age group who are not even targeted by any programme. However, despite the financial crunch, many states have been taking innovative measures to spread literacy. And in the process, spending money from their kitty. "the states are not flush with funds but they have taken innovative steps," remarks an official of the Union ministry of human resource development. In Rajasthan, for instance, nearly 1,38,000 people have passed the equivalence of classes III and IV in the last three years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." - Dr BR Ambedkar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
