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V. Mohan
Rao**
September 8th of every year is observed as
International Literacy Day. India has put its
Literacy Mission high on agenda with the government
initiating a number of measures including the
adoption of the Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education, to achieve higher literacy
rate in the country. The measures also include the
recasting of the National Literacy Mission to focus
on literacy of women, reduction in the dropout rate
of children at school levels and introduction of
Public-Private Participation in the school
education. The Human Resource Development Ministry
has set a target of achieving 80 per cent literacy
for women by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan and
have recast the National Literacy Mission to
National Women’s Literacy Mission to provide a
thrust to it. With its new slogan, Literate India,
the Mission will be launched soon in about 365
districts in the country, where the literacy rate is
below 50 per cent. The Government is also trying to
reduce the gap between literacy levels of men and
women at All India level, which is 21 per cent at
present. Through this Mission, the Government is
planning to educate 70 million adults, out of which
60 million would be women. The Centre has also
decided to set up 6,000 high quality model schools
at the block level, at the rate of one school per
block, as benchmarks of excellence. The first phase
of the scheme to set up 2,500 Model Schools in
Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) under the State
Governments was launched in November 2008.
Free and Compulsory Education for Children Bill,
2009
Recently, the Government has adopted the Right to
Free and Compulsory Education for Children Bill
2009. It provides that every child in the age group
of six to fourteen shall have the right to free and
compulsory education in a neighborhood school till
completion of elementary education. The measure will
lead to significant reform in the elementary
education system besides ensuring universalisation
of elementary education of satisfactory and
equitable quality. The measure provides that
appropriate government and the local authority will
establish elementary schools in such area or limits
of neighbourhood as may be prescribed. The Bill’s
enactment was also a part of the UPA Government’s
agenda during its first 100 days of governance.
Measures to reduce Illiteracy
As per UNESCO’S Education for All Global Monitoring
Report 2006, the number of illiterates in the
population aged 15 plus was estimated to be 771
million in the world, out of which 267 million are
in India. The Centre has taken several steps to
improve the literacy scenario in the country. They
include renewed focus on low literacy areas with
special emphasis on female, Scheduled Caste,
Scheduled Tribes and minorities, enhanced budget
allocation for adult education and significant
enhancement in access and quality of elementary
education to reduce the influx into the pool of
adult illiterate population. At present, the Total
Literacy Campaign (TLC) is in progress in 95
districts of the country. About 127.45 million
persons in the country have been made literate since
the launching of the National Literacy Mission in
1988 till 2008-09.
Enrolment Of Children at Primary And Secondary
Levels
The Government has adopted a multi-pronged approach
for improving the enrolment of children at primary
level and their retention. The Gross Enrolment Ratio
at the primary level was 111.24 in 2006-07 and the
drop out rate for that level has decreased from 31.5
per cent in 2003-04 to 25.43 per cent in 2006-07.
The National Programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),
aimed at achieving Universal Elementary Education,
launched in 2001, provides for, among other things,
opening of new schools, strengthening of school
infrastructure, inclusive education for children
with special needs. The Government has allocated
Rs.71,000 crore as its share during the 11th Plan.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme is supported by
the National Programme of Mid Day Meal scheme in
schools. At the secondary level, various schemes
like Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA),
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in
secondary schools, scholarship for girls have been
started. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher
educations is estimated to be about 12.4 per cent as
compared to estimated world average of 26 per cent.
In order to achieve the targeted GER of an
additional five per cent by the end of 11th Plan, a
substantial increase in plan allocation has been
made for the expansion of higher education, by way
of setting up of institutions such as Central
Universities in uncovered states. The Government
also plans to increase the GER to 21 per cent by the
end of 12th Five Year Plan period. The GER of
Scheduled Tribe students has increased from 86.06
per cent in 2003-04 to 109.48 per cent at the
elementary level and the dropout rate has reduced in
the same period from 70.05 per cent to 62.54 per
cent.
Public Spending on Education
The Government has accorded very high importance to
the education sector during the 11th Plan. An
allocation of Rs.2,69,873 crore has been made to the
Human Resource Development Ministry. The allocation
includes Rs.1,84,930 crore for the Department of
School Education and Literacy. This constitutes 19.4
per cent of the total 11th Plan allocation compared
to 7.7 per cent in the 10th Plan. This is a very
substantial effort on the part of the Central
Government towards raising the public spending on
education towards the goal of 6 per cent of GDP. The
overall progress towards this goal will however,
also depend on the efforts by the State Governments.
The Government favours active support and
involvement of private sector participation for
funding and management of educational institutions
subject to reasonable surplus earned and the same
being ploughed back for development of institutions.
The 11th Plan document as approved by the National
Development Council, also mentions the need to
explore private sector initiatives and various forms
of Public Private Partnerships in the education
sector. A proposal for setting up of 20 new Indian
Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) in
various parts of the country under
Public-Private-Participation (PPP) mode is also
under consideration of the government.
Empowerment of Women in Education
The National Policy on Education (NPE) of 1986, as
modified in 1992 provides that education will be
used as an agent of basic change in the status of
woman. The removal of illiteracy among women and
obstacles inhibiting their access to, and retention
in, elementary education will receive overriding
priority through the provision of special support
services and effective monitoring. The University
Grants Commission (UGC) also implements various
schemes for educational empowerment of women like
Indira Gandhi Scholarships for single girl child for
pursuing higher and technical education,
construction of women’s hostels, women’s study
centers in universities for gender studies and
policies in respect of empowerment of women and
their role in the society. The positive impact of
above schemes has resulted in increased enrolment of
girls, decrease in dropout rates of girls, improved
learning achievement level of girls/women and the
overall reduction in gender gaps.
International Scenario
Despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an
elusive target globally. About 776 million adults
lack minimum literacy skills which means that one in
five adults is still not literate; 75 million
children are out-of-school and many more attend
irregularly or drop out. This year’s International
Literacy Day puts the spotlight on the empowering
role of literacy and its importance for
participation, citizenship and social development.
Literacy and Empowerment is the theme for the
2009-10 biennium of the United Nations Literacy
Decade.
Disclaimer : The views expressed by the author in
this feature are entirely his own and do not
necessarily reflect the views of PIB
RTS/VN
**Freelance Writer
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