Literacy : Key to Development

" Education is regarded as the most critical investment in human development. It is significantly contributes to improvement in health, hygiene, demographic profile, productivity and practically all that has a bearing on the quality of life." So says the nine fifth year plane document. Our awareness not withstanding, our ranking in the annual HRD(Human Resources Development) report (our educational status in an integral part of his report) issued by the UNDP is somewhere near the rock bottom. This is indeed not surprising as our country has the largest number of illiterates in the world-a mind-bloggling 290 million adult illiterates.

The inevitable question pops up: How is that, that even after fifty five years of independence, we are still far away from the goal of universal literacy. Why have we come to such a sorry figure ? The reasons are not far to seek. India has been investing much less than many other Asian countries in terms of educational expendoture. As a nation, not only do we spend too little to education, the efficiency of resource utilisation has also been very poor. Improper planning and poor implementation have dogged our educational system. Without mincing words, we could say that we have lacked the political will to take the right steps to secure total literacy.
Depressing literacy rates
According to cencus 2001, any one aged seven years or above, who can bothread and write with understanding in any lenguage, is treated as literate. According to the cencus 2001, the literacy rate in the coutry is 65.38 percent-75.85 percent for males and 54.16 percent for femals. Kerela comes on the top with 90.02 percent literacy. The state also occupies the premier position in both male literacy and female literacy( 94020 percent of male literacy and 8.86 percent of female literacy respectivaly). Kerela is clesely followed by Mizoram(88.49 percent ) and Lakshadweep( 87.52 percent). Bihar with a literacy rate of 47.53 percent ranks the last in the country preceded by Jgarkhand( 54.13 percent) and Jammu and Kashmir (54.46 percent). Bihar has also recorded the lowest literacy rares both in case of male and female (60.32 percent of male literacy and 33.57 percent of female literacy).
According to the data provided by the Government, for the first time since Independence, the absolute number of illiterates has declined by over 31.9 million in the last decade. A significant mile-stone reached as per the figures of Cencus 2001 is that while the 7+ population increased by 171.6 million persons during 1991-2000, about 203.6 million additional persons have become literate during the decade.
A comparision of the cencus figures of 1991 and 2001 indicades that: (1) The literacy rates recorded an increase of 13.17 percentage points from 52.21 in 1991 to 65.38 in 2001, the highest rate since Independence. (2) The female literacy rate increased by 14.87 percentage points (from 39.24 percent to 54.16 percent) as against 11.72 percent (from 64.1 percent to 75.8 percent) in case of males; (3) the gap in the male-female literacy rates has increased from 24.84 in 1991 cencus to 21.70 percentage points in 2001; (4) All the states and Union Territories, without exception, have shown increase in literacy rates, the male literacy rate now being over 60 percent; (5) The states and Union Territories which have moved forward by more than fifteen percentage points during the decade are Rajasthan, Chattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (22.48, 22.27, 19.44, 19.33, 17.02 and 16.65 percentage respectively).
Bihar has registered a minimm increase of 10.04 percent points from 37.49 percent to 47.53 percent.
The ninth plan treats education as the most crucial investment in human development. The Prime Minister's special action plan (SAP) has stressed the need for expension and improvement of social infrustructure in the field of education.
This goal has been furthur elaborated in the Nation Agenda for Governance (NAG ), which states;" we are committed to a total eradication of illiteracy. We will formulate the implement plans to gradually increase the governmental and non-governmental spending on education up to 6 percent of the GDP, that is to provide educationfor all. We will implement the constitutional provision of making primary education free and compulsory up to the fifth standard. Our aim is to move towards equal access to and opportunity of educational standards up to the school leaving stage. We shall strive to improve the quality of education at all levels-from primary schools to our universities."
There is no death of good schemes, but the trouble lies in half-hearted implementation of the programmes and lack of motivation among school teachers and the poor infrastructural facilities. There is hardly any healthy contact between the teachers and taught. Parents refuse to send their daughters to school situated pretty far away from home for obvious security reasons. And the incedence of school drop outs still remain very high. A few states like Tamilnadu, Assam pioneered the Mid-day meals scheme to cut down the dropout rate and provide supplementary nutrition to school children and in the process we can bring the children away from the lure of child labour. Many schools are still being run in dilapidated buildings or in the open without any protection from the havoc of climate.
It is absolutely essential that the problem of universal elementary education and literacy is tackled through a powerful mass movement with clearly percieved goals involving the central and state Governments, the Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, the Panchayati Raj institutions, NGOs, the media and every other supportive agency in society. The problem need to be tackled on a war footing. It is now universally acknowledged that the best anidote to the chronic problem of child labour is universalisation of elementary education. It is happy news that the constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill 2001 has made the right to education a Fundamental Education Right. There is an urgent need to impart necessary training to primary school teachers in order to bring down the incidence of dropouts and the high rate of attrition of primary school teachers.
The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP ) aims at providing access to primery education for all children, reducing drop out rates to less than ten percent, increasing the learning achievement of primary school students by at least 20 percent and reducing the gap among gender and social groups to less than five percent in the educationally backard district with female literacy below the national average.
According to the sixth All India Education Servey, 83.4 percent of the habitations in the country were served by a primery school within 1 kilimeter of walking distance. However the number of habitations without the primery schools/sections, as per the norms of 1 km. distance, is as high as 1.76 lakh.
The national Literacy Mission (NLM) ,launched in 1988, aims at attaining full literacy ,i.e., sustainable threshold level of 75 percent by 2005.The Mission seeks to achieve this goal by imparting functional literacy to non -literates in the age group of 15-35(including the age group of 9-14 Where Non-formal Education is not in operation).Today literacy campaigns, being area-specific, time-bound,volunteer-based, cost-effective and result oriented, are the dominant strategy of the National Literacy Mission for the eradication of illiteracy. The importance of fellow-up action is not ignored in the literacy programme and individual interest promotion programmes. Post literacy campaigns are a concomitant to the basic literacy classes. The basic idea is to see that the neoliterates do not slip back into illiteracy. Emphasis is also laid on skill upgradation and the continuation of education package which offers a hast of programmes like income generating programmes, quality of life improvement programmes. So far 561 district across the country have taken up literacy programmes and made 91.53 milion people literate/Of thede, 166 districts have been covered under Total Literacy Campaign, 290 districts under Post Literacy Programmes and 105 districts covered under Continuing Education Programmes.
Under the Vajpayee government, the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resources Development, has launched the Sarba Shiksha Abhiyan ( SSA ), a historical national mission to provide eight years of quality education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years. The programme seeks to bridge both gender and social gaps with the active participation of the community. All the districts in the country were to be covered by the programme by the end of 2002. By 2003, all children were to be brought to be schools, Education Guarrantee Centres, Alternative Schools or back to school camps. By 2007, all children are expected to complete five years of education. By 2010, children will have completed eight years of quality elementary education.
SSA is part of the long haul for the gigantic task of elimination illiteracy among children, that is targeted to be completed by 2010. The SSA was launched in september 2001. A sum of Rs 500 crore has been released to 520 districts from the total of Rs 1300 crore approved. At the initial stages, under the SSA, we would require 6,078 new primary schools and 4,620 upper primery schools and a contingent of 14,540 primery and 7,591 secondary school teachers. these school need building, class rooms, toilets and drinking water. This would be arranged by panchayats, muniicipal bodies and voluntary organisations selected by the state governments. The SSA needs quick disbursement of funds. Central funds"for infrastructure, teachers or books" are sent directly to the SSA mission, a registered society generally headed by the Chief Minister or Education Minister. From here, the funds are sent to the organisation,"be it the panchayat or the NGO or the school," where the SSA functions.
Literacy is the base of a nation's development. India can illafford to remain a house divided : a house where you find the best skilled man power in the world Juxtaposed with the largest number of illeterates in the world.
The yawning gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' in term of educational attainments has to be narrowed down. Let us not forget that ignorance leads to greater exploitation and lack of empowerment leading to perpetuation of proverty, ill-health and a hast of other social problems. Eradication of illiteracy should be on a war footing. Delay means disaster.

The Ships that will never Sail (The Titanic and the Queen Elizabeth)

God, the greatest creator and sustainer Make the things great and small; They all belong to him, He is the lord of all.  God is almighty, omnipresent, omnicient and omnipotant. He gives man the power to do and make everything for himself not for God. There is a saying that man proposes and, God disposes. Man can do everything but nothing in reality. The making of theTITANIC is one of the greatest wonderful creations of man that destroyed completely in the rags of time. THE TITANIC: The full name of theTITANIC was ROYAL MAI STEAMER (R.M.S. TITANIC). The unsinkable ship takes about five half years to build expending 75 lakh dollars. It was like a floating town and as tall as 15 storeyed building. It's details :Length-883ft Width-92 ft. Height-104 ft. Weight-6000 tonne. Speed-22 knot+++, Life-boats-16 . Bent life-boats -4. The length of the boat-30 ft. and passenger carrying capacity-64. First class ticket fare-3100 dollars. Third class ticket fare-32 dollars. On 10th April 1912 the largest luxury ship and the finest ship in the world set sail from Southampton (England) to New York (America). She set out to cross the Atlantic Ocean in herMAIDEN VOYAGE, the forst journey carrying 22 passengers and 1000 sailors including 62 years old Captain E.J. Smith. The passengers were proud and happy bacause they were travelling in the best ship inthe world that could never sink. Many of the passengers were asleep. due to their comfortable and safe journey. The danger night of 14th April came. The TITANIC was 23 knot in speed. At  11:40 p.m.the man who kept watch from the top of the ship saw something and grew cold with fear. "ICEBERG" he yelled. Captain smith fought hard to steer the TITANIC but she changed direction slowly and her side scraped the mountain of ice. Water began to pour in to the ship as the iceberg cut holes along the ship's side. The unsinkable ship was sinking ans sinking. At 12:15 a.m. captain send messages to the ship's radio. "HELP! TITANIC SINKING! COME QUICKLY!" She could send messages 250 miles away through it's radio . TheCALIFORNIA (a ship) was only 20 miles away but it's radio wasturned off where the radio operatore was asleep. TheTITANIC vanished in to the sea at 2:20 a.m. on  15th April. 1513 people drowned or died of cold. The CARPATHIA (another ship) saved 1687 people arriving there three hours late. Most of the Titanic Victims were burried at the CITY OF FUNERALS, HALIFAX, the capital of Nova Scotia. Fmale were saved more than male passengers: first class saved female passengers-97%, second class-84% and third class-55% on the other hand 34%, 8% and 12% male passengers were saved respectively. On 1st September, 1985 under the supervision of NATINAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, scientists sent a submarine to look for the wreck of the TITANIC. They found the ship lying in two pieces on the ocean floor at a depth of around 4 thousand metres. After this on 16th August, 1998 Discovery Channel gave us direct picture of it. There are many stories of bravery and true LOVE on that terrible night in April 1912. Almost every one who enjoys the cinemaTHE TITANIC by James Cameron leaves the cinema in tears. Perhaps the white bacteria, RUSTICALS will finish eating the last wreck of the TITANIC one day. THE QUEEN ELIZABETH:The biggest ship in the world was built in 1940. Her length was 309 metres and her width was 35.5 mts. Like the TITANIC she used to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from England to America with 3450 people abroad including 1250 sailors to sail the ship. She was like a small town having dining rooms, restaurants, two swimming pools, shops, a post office, a cinema hall, a bank and a daily newspaper was printed on board the ship. The wueen Elizabeth was used to carry soldiers, sailors and airmen during the second world war. After the war she became a passenger-ship again for many years from England to America taking only four days for the journey. Gradually she grew old and on the other hand people used to make their journey quicker by air.At last she was bought by Mr. C.Y. Tung, a Hong Kong citizen. It was made the Sea-Wise University (C.Y's University), a big school for young men and women. The student would be able to travel around the world during their studies. Tung took the ship to Hong Kong for repairs and she caught fire while she was being repaired and finally ended her life in Hong Kong harbour.

Family, Society and its impact on infants

Perhaps family is the oldest educational institution of the infant. Within it an infant is born and brought up. The future life of an infant depends greatly on the family first and then after the infant period is over they are vary much influenced by society , environment and so on. Now there may arise a question-what is family? According to Bieseuz and Bieseuz, "The family in sense may be defined as a woman with a child and a man to look after them." In a family parents take care of for the physical and mental development of the infants. Parents feed them, provide with clothing and shelter and look after when they are in sick.

The infant or a baby (a child under seven years of age) learns a good deal from others through imitation. The infants upto five years imitate the character and behaviour of the parents or the superior without thinking and reasoning. The parents should be vary cautious in dealing with the children. Because the character, behaviour of the parents directly influence the children. That is why it is necessary to teach the children with utmost care the technique of speech,etiquette, sound conduct, behaviour to others and so on.If there is always struggle in between the father and mother of the family the infant of that family can not be suitable for decent society. This is the age of science and technology and to fit ourselves with it our august parents should remove all their orthodox ideas so that their children may fit with the changing society.
Discipline is necessary in every walk of life-in the family, in the society, in the school etc. If there is no sound discipline in the family-there will be chaos and the future life of the infants will not be happy. An infant to be a useful member of the society, it has to be trained by its parents and teachers from the vary beginning. There should be co-operation in between the family and society and the school for the development of the infant. Without co-operation successful education will not be possible. School is also a society in miniature.

It is not necessary to say that family and social environment is very essential in moulding the personality of the infant. Now what is environment? We can simply say that the term environment means all that is found around the individual. The environment enfluences the infant or the child physically and mentally and their character is formed accordingly. For example-an infant born and brought up in hilly area will be adventurous and hardly. Likewise if the infants are born and brought up in a primitive society their character and behaviour will be akin to primitive people. Again if a child is born in a family of pilferers will pick up this art easily by living with his family members.
Infant as well as man wants to know unknown. It is their nature. We see that when the infant is able to speak, they ask so many questions to their parents. But most of the parents feel disgusted in answering the questions. It affects the mind of the infant. What is mind? It is a complicated question. Yet we can simply say that thinking , feeling and willing are the fundamental of mind. So it is duty of the parents of the family to give the answer of the infant as per as possible. This will help the infant to increase the knowledge.
Every infant is born with certain individual traits. This traits developed in a proper way in a good social environment. We the teachers as member of the society should make a study of the distingusing characteristics
of each child and well-acquainted with the environmental factors of the child. This will help him to understand the behaviour of the child under different situations and would be able to mould the behaviour of the infant in a desired way.