[dropcap]T[/dropcap]ripura has pushed the North-East region into the limelight. This time it is not the ongoing struggle for liberation or sovereignty being advocated and violently exercised by other separatists of the region. Tripura has made it to the top of achieving the first position in literacy with 94.65 per cent beating the land of coconuts Kerala with 93.91 per cent.According to Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, the State jumped to first position among the States of the country in literacy from the 12th position in the 2001 census and the fourth position in the 2011 census.
After Tripura attained 87.75 per cent literacy in the 2011 census, over 8,254 voluntary literacy workers (VLW) worked tremendously with full dedication under 8,152 adult literacy centres to make the “make the leftover (131, 624 people) unlettered people literate” the Chief Minster said at a function on the International Literacy Day.
September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place worldwide.
Some 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report on Education for All shows a clear connection between illiteracy and countries in severe poverty, and between illiteracy and prejudice against women.
This was also the thematic emphasis of the 2007-2008 biennium of the United Nations Literacy Decade and had a strong emphasis on Literacy and Epidemics with a focus on communicable diseases such as HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, some of the world's forefront public health concerns. For 2009-2010 the emphasis was placed on “Literacy and Empowerment”, with special consideration to Gender Equality and the empowerment of women. The theme of the 2011-2012 celebrations was “Literacy and Peace”.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed 2003 to 2012 as the Literacy Decade: Education for All. The Assembly believes that creating literate environments is essential to eradicating poverty, achieving gender equity and ensuring sustainable development. .
As per Population Census of India 2011, the Literacy rate of India has shown as improvement of almost 9 percent. It has gone up to 74.04% in 2011 from 65.38% in 2001, thus showing an increase of 9 percent in the last 10 years. It consists of male literacy rate 82.14% and female literacy rate is 65.46%.
Kerala now with 93.9% literacy rate is followed by Lakshadweep and Mizoram are at third and fourth position with 92.3% and 91.06% literacy rate respectively.
Government of India has taken several measures to improve the literacy rate in villages and towns of India. These include free education programs to poor people living in villages and towns and setting up of new schools and colleges at district and state levels. Several committees have been formed to ensure proper utilization of funds allotted to improve literacy rate.
Nagaland’s literacy rate at 80.1 per cent is above the national average with males at 83.3 per cent and females at 76.7 per cent. However, mere statistics can be misleading. The understanding of the term ‘literacy’ needs to be revisited. To arm an individual to read and write may qualify him to be called a ‘literate’ as opposed to being ‘illiterate’. But being literate does not equal to being ‘educated’. Education is the all round development of the mind, now increasingly of the soul as well. In Nagaland the percentage of literacy, like every other state in the country is based on the annual number of enrollments and how many complete schooling and college education.
Literacy statistics should also measure and be defined by the ‘employability’ quotient of the literate mass. Here, it would be no exaggeration to point out that rising figures of ‘unemployed youth’ in Nagaland is also despairingly linked to the unemployable mass who are being churned out in the many schools and colleges across the state. For this to turn around the state is in urgent requirement for more educational institutions who will engage with ‘education’ in the ‘truest’ sense of the word. This requires the passion to teach and equally to learn.
The recent hullabaloo regarding the education sector are clear indicators that passion is alive and well. But it is also indicative that too many unattended details have been allowed to gather dust and the mess is choking the education department and invariably the future of our children.
