HOW TO REMOVE MASS ILLITERACY

Illiteracy of the general mass is one of the major ills from which our country suffers in common with other backward countries. It has been recognized as the birth right of every individual in a free sate. Mass ignorance defeats all attempts of progress and darkness the future of the nation. The sooner illiteracy is removed the better it will be for the individual and the community at large.

The schools we have a present are for children whose age range from 6 to 16. The syllabuses and the curriculum followed in these institutes are cast into a certain pattern and designed to prepare boys and girls for higher academic education in different lines. These schools can be of no practical use for mass, the vast majority of whom are grown up men and women. Therefore, a new set of school have to be introduced for giving education to these people. These may be called schools for adults.

We have to keep within view certain facts regarding these education centers. Our population being very large, the number of these schools will have to be proportionately considerable-at lest one in each locality of three or four village. The adult education centers cannot aspire to have grand school buildings. These schools will aim at imparting some elementary enlightenment along with a little better knowledge of the vocation the learners pursue. As most adults are busy earning their bread in the daytime, it will be convenient for them to attend schools if classes are taken at night.

In this country only a small minority of the children get the opportunity of attending schools regularly. Number of schools in the villages fall far short of what it should be. The existing schools are in such a deplorable condition that they beggar description. So a staggering number of school-going children stand in need of some facilities for rudimentary education. To that end compulsory and free primary schools should be started to accommodate these neglected future citizens of the country.

Mass literacy should never be confined to the three R’s. It must also aim at making the learners useful and capable of applying the new acquisition to the earning of their bread. Efforts should, therefore be made to teach some trade and to that end every adult education centre should be so planned and equipped as to be able to impart a large variety of vocational trainings. Thousands of our illiterate people are unemployed because they have neither any land to cultivate nor any finished knowledge of arts and crafts. If such people can be taught various handicrafts, such as weaving, carpentry, pottery, smithery. Caning as also trained in the handling of small machinery, their unemployment problem will be considerably solved. Over and above, mass education centers should take special care to impart knowledge of scientific agriculture, of health and sanitation and also give the learners some sort of civic training so as to make them fit for good citizenship.

To make the programme of mass literacy successful, it is, therefore, essential to keep in view the question of removing the current appalling poverty of the masses.