The Hindu Business Line : Progress comes with learning

A Human Development Index prepared by UNDP has recently come out with a distressing announcement that India has the largest number of illiterates in the world and ranks a poor 126 out of 177 nations in the index.

Adult literacy is one of the several variables on the basis of which the index is calculated and the revelations clearly prove that after six decades of independence all that we have to boast of is an insurmountable pile of problems and the scourge o f illiteracy sits right on top of the pile.

Successive Governments, crores of rupees allocated in the Plans and the Budgets, literacy drives announced with great fanfare, promises made during election time, have all merely skimmed the surface and even basic literacy continues to elude large sections of our countrymen.

Also, the law that ensures free and compulsory education for every child up to the primary school stage, is observed in its breach.

Child labour

Child labour is rampant and the progeny of the poorest of the poor is either sent out to beg on the streets or to eke out a livelihood by doing menial jobs. This is a section of society that does not even have the basic necessities and when prioritising their needs educating their children might well be right at the bottom.

The populist Chief Minister, M. G. Ramachandran, brought the noon-meal scheme with the noble intention of enticing children, especially in the rural areas to school with the promise of one good meal a day. The initial reaction was euphoric. But it was found that while the scheme turned out to be a success, most parents ensured that after the children ate their meal, they were whisked away for other chores and the classrooms presented an empty look, especially during the post lunch session.

It is crystal clear that basic education for children can only be ensured by eradicating poverty and this again has always been a tall order with the number of people below the poverty line only increasing, what with successive droughts and national calamities. Adult education too leaves a lot to be desired. In a country such as India where education has turned into a big business, the zeal to stamp out illiteracy has all but disappeared.

Extraneous factors

It is indeed a paradox that due to other extraneous factors, even free education fails to draw students and the sad part is that neither these children nor their parents are to blame.

Progress comes with learning and thumping our chests at a 9 per cent growth in GDP appears hollow when we are unable to achieve anything significant in terms of literacy or poverty eradication.

(The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer.)