CONTENT

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INTRODUCTION:

Illiteracy is one of the biggest problems that India is facing in contemporary world.
Illiteracy is the mother of various other issues like poverty, population explosion,
unemployment, child labour. Illiteracy is a major stumbling block in the growth and
development of the country. The majority of the population in India is still illiterate which is
hampering the progress. In India, illiteracy is basically categorized as wide gaps between
rural and urban populations.

The majority of the people are illiterate especially in rural areas, where people are unaware
about the ill effects of being illiterate and moreover facilities are also not ample. In spite of
various schemes and initiatives by the Government to promote literacy the results are not
satisfactory. Even there is a wide variation in the literacy ratio of males and females. India is
a male dominated society and thus the right of education seems to be owned by them only.

Illiteracy is defined as not being able to read and write which affects many people, the
number of people incapable of reading or writing in a certain area or country is known as the
illiteracy rate. If a person is illiterate then they may not be able to do certain things and they
may also suffer from psychological effects of illiteracy

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TYPES OF ILLITERACY IN INDIA:

1. Total illiteracy
2. Functional illiteracy
3. Cultural illiteracy
4. Professional illiteracy
5. Visual illiteracy

1.Total illiteracy:
Total illiteracy means people who can not read and write at all.

2. Functional illiteracy:
People who can read and write on a limited level. Conservative estimates
state that 20% of all adults are functionally illiterate. This means that they can read or hear
words and understand their meanings, but cannot properly comprehend the meaning of a
sentence as a whole, and are unaware that they lack this perception. At an extreme level, the
words in “beware of the dog” are individually understood, but the meaning of required
cautiousness is lost. At a more common level, a statement like “genetics is bad” shows that
someone lacks a basic understanding of what genetics is yet thinks their knowledge
comprehensive enough to make decisive statements.

3. Cultural illiteracy:
People who do not know or understand a common body of facts about one’s nation,
state or even hometown.
Cultural illiteracy is a lack of familiarity with one’s culture. This often becomes
apparent when common sayings are misunderstood, or when references to folklore are
completely missed. Although we are all culturally illiterate to many other cultures, those who
are illiterate of their own culture lack a feeling of comfort when surrounded by what should
be familiar memes. A British person thinking that “porky-pies” require pastry, an Australian
thinking that “bogans” are from Bougainville, or a Chinese thinking that “Buddha jumps over
the wall” actually involves Buddha are strong examples.

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4. Financial illiteracy:
People who feel overwhelmed when the topic of budgets comes up may suffer from
some degree of financial illiteracy. These include people who spend money irresponsibly,
such as using a week’s pay to buy a video game when bills are due, or not saving money for
future hardships. Frighteningly, many adults when surveyed state that they are financially
literate, yet are unable to solve simple finance problems, showing that many suffer from a
false sense of security. Although the level varies between countries, between 30% and 50%
of adults are financially illiterate, and is a strong predictor of future poverty.

5.Visual illiteracy:

Visual illiteracy is the inability to understand or process information in visual form. These
people struggle to read graphs and info graphics. Specific types of brain damage can cause an
innate inability to understand and recognize faces or vision entirely, but most people with
visual illiteracy have no such underlying cause. A form of visual illiteracy that all people
have at one point but most grow out of is seen in young toddlers. They will tend to think that
when a single biscuit is broken in half, the two pieces represent more food than the original
biscuit. Similarly, four grapes close together are seen as “more grapes” than the same four
grapes spaced far apart.

MAIN CAUSES OF ILLITERACY IN INDIA

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1.High Rate of Population –
The population of India stands at 135.26 crore as on the year 2018, according to World
Bank data and according to the United Nations data the population of India in the year 2020
is estimated at 1,380,004,385. The population of India is 17.7% of the total world population
and lists at the second position after China. The Population density is 464 per km2. As it is
already well known that the resources on earth are bare minimum, and are exhaustible, more
population means less resources and it is not limited to only the natural resources but other
resources as well. There are minimum institutions with minimum man power, with the ever-
increasing population; it is difficult to accommodate everyone keeping in view the situation.
 
 
2.High Level of poverty –
As per the census data of 2011, around 22% of the Indian Population was under the
poverty line, which although is reducing, but it is the harsh reality that the people who come
under the poverty line or are ‘extreme’ poor cannot afford things for basic livelihood let alone
education. The state of government school is widely known, and even if there are govt.
schools, they are not enough for the kids to get enrolled. The parents of these kids simply
cannot afford private education, for them to get enrolled in the schools. Apart from this, the
large sum of debts does not allow these people to attain education, instead of spending time
studying they work in order to get out of the perpetual state of misery and poverty.
 

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3.Traditional outlook of lower class –
The lower and backward classes in India, are still stuck in the never-ending cycle of
poverty, the debt they take to repay the earlier one, keeps them into the debt web and it
becomes impossible for them to get out of it, their progeny works hard to repay the debt their
forefathers took. The children help their parents in the ultimate aim of their lives and in the
midst of all this education becomes secondary, and so does literacy.   
 
4.Ineffectiveness of primary schools in enrolling and retaining students 
It becomes difficult for the schools which are set up in the rural areas to retain the
students as these students try to get out the school simply because they wish to earn money
by doing petty jobs. Fearing the growing rate of drop rates in the country, various programs
were also introduced such as ‘Mid-Day Meal’, whereby the students were provided with food
every day, which worked as an incentive to keep the children in the school. However even
after the passing of legislation ‘Right to Education’ where free education is provided, the
school dropout rate has remained disappointing. As per a report published by the newspaper,
‘The Hindu’, the greatest number of drop outs are from the state Jharkhand where out of 100
only 83 complete the elementary level and only 30 complete the senior secondary. The least
dropout rate is in Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala.

5.Social Problems:
A large percentage of children are deprived of even basic primary school education due to
major social problems like caste discrimination, child marriage, child labour. Illiteracy in
India is accentuated by the huge gender bias exists against females in terms of education. A
girl child is denied education by stating illogical reasons like her existence is only to take care
of her family and kids.

6. Lack of School Facilities:

Illiteracy in India is proliferated as schools are out of reach for the underprivileged
people living in rural areas. The schools in rural areas of India lack in various issues like the
medium of transportation. Students in rural areas have to walk for miles to reach the school.
Most of these schools are deprived of funds, qualified staff, proper seating arrangements,
sanitation facilities, healthy food and education friendly environment.

7.Gender and social discrimination –

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 A massive and undeniable cause for illiteracy in India is the backward thinking of
dominating citizens. Education is almost denied in India for backward classes due to their
caste difference and gender difference.

A lot of schemes and policies are initiated to avoid this condition but the unawareness of
people in remote areas has increased the illiteracy in India. Child marriage and thoughts like
girls are meant for household works has impacted on the literacy rate. In many rural villages
and even in some urban cities, girls are denied education just because of their gender and this
in turn increases the illiteracy in India.

Illiteracy in India is a major cause of the nation’s slow growth and development. Lack of
qualified education and basic knowledge has resulted in a lack of economic growth as well.
Literate and talented students are the future of our country. They are the people who will help
in our country’s growth.

The personal and mental growth of a person is also affected by education. Illiteracy in India
has also caused many major crimes from evolving and reduces the social awareness of a
person. Illiteracy in India and its unawareness create lack of discipline and social behavior in
people which in turn results in unethical characteristics in them.

This cause of illiteracy in India can also be as a result of the difficulty in earning a living
which will eventually lead the people to carry out their lives in such irresponsible ways.

Illiteracy in India can be reduced by offering more standard and affordable educational
institutions that are easily available and reached by both rich and poor.

STEPS WERE TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE

LITERACY STANDARDS IN INDIA

1. The government conducts various scholarship examinations and provides school uniform,
textbooks and stationery in order to encourage students and adults to take up studying.

2.The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was launched by the government in 1995 to provide students
free food grain so as to improve enrolment, attendance, and retention in government schools.

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3. Samagra Shiksha Programme was launched by the government with the broader goal of
improving school effectiveness. This will be measured in terms of equal opportunities for
schooling and equitable learning outcomes.

4.Awareness campaigns were launched in rural areas to create awareness among people
about the importance of education. They were encouraged to attend or send their children to
schools.

Both Central and State Government have undertaken many initiatives and schemes to
eradicate Illiteracy in India. The Sarva Shikasha Abhiyan operating since 2002 covers people
who domains, especially elderly citizens and women to provide primary education. National
Literacy Mission Program was implemented in 1988 to educate millions of people in India.
Saakshar Bharat is another program which aims 80% literacy level at the national level,
focusing on literacy among women. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
is an act passed by the Parliament in 2009. It is a very instrumental law with a panoramic aim
to mitigate illiteracy in India, where it safeguards compulsory education for children of age
between 6- 14 years in top quality schools.

HOW TO OVERCOME ILLITERACY INDIA:

1.Free education

The Right to Education Act, passed by Parliament in 2009, has ensured that children
between the ages of 6-14 should receive free and compulsory education. As a result of this
Act, there have been some improvements in the number of children within these age groups
getting education.

But we need to think about children who don’t fall within this age group. Without education,
children below age 6, who haven’t yet qualified for free and compulsory education, could fall
into the clutches of child labour. Once they fall in, it’s immensely difficult to get them out.
That’s why NGOs are already making efforts to provide necessary education to younger
children.

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Additionally, children over the age of 14 could still want to pursue their education. It’s upon
the NGOs to provide them with the necessary facilities to learn valuable skills that could help
them in getting employment.

2.Flexible schedules

Despite the availability of free education, many children may still fail to attend schools.
Most of the time, it’s because they need to work or help out their families during the day. So
this leaves them with no time to attend the free classes provided by many government schools
and NGOs.

Here, flexible class timings like the ones offered by the Pratham Shiksha organization run by
Sumeeti Mittal could make a huge difference. This type of schedule provides underprivileged
children the freedom to earn their livelihood during the day and then get an education in their
free time.

So

3.Vocational training:

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 One of the main goals of education is to provide individuals with the essential skills and
knowledge to earn a living. So a basic school curriculum may not always be satisfactory for
educating underprivileged children. Once they’re at an eligible working age, they need to
have useful skills that can help them find employment. This is where vocational training
programs come into play.

In some NGOs, children can attend vocational classes in plumbing, electricity, and stitching.
These classes can equip underprivileged children with practical skills they can use for earning
a livelihood. The Pratham Shiksha organization has even partnered with a private hospital to
provide nursing training, complete with government certification.

4.Raising awareness among underprivileged societies:

Despite all of these efforts made by NGOs and the government, so many families still
refuse to send their children to school because of the mindset they have about education.
Many parents in underprivileged families may be of the opinion that education is of no use.
Because they themselves “survived” without an education, their kids too can do the same.

Here’s where we need to put more effort into raising awareness about the importance of
education. We can do this by delivering speeches during public events and gatherings.
Instead of simply stating the importance of education, we need to show them the value of
education. We can help them learn how having educated children could benefit their families
in terms of both financial and societal status.

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5.Empowering educated teachers

For children to get quality education, they need to have an educated and dedicated teacher.
Private schools and prominent government schools may have an endless supply of highly-
qualified teachers to teach their students. But in the case of underprivileged children, they
may have a hard time finding educated individuals who are willing to teach them. This is
mainly due to the minimal or zero pay.

These educated people cannot be blamed because they too need to earn their livelihood and
support their families. They may not have the privilege of dedicating all their time to teaching
for free or for low pay. In such cases, NGOs could open up an opportunity for educated
people to volunteer as part-time teachers. The teachers could dedicate a few hours of their
time to teach for free while still having the time to work a regular job.

There are so many factors that come to play when trying to deal with illiteracy in India. The
five ways mentioned above should have significant impact on education for underprivileged
children.

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