Bengali Wikipedia 10th Anniversary Celebration Kolkata/Submissions/The role of voluntary organizations in eradication of illiteracy

Submission no.

Title of the submission

The role of voluntary organizations in eradication of illiteracy

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)

Author of the submission

Biswatosh Sengupta

E-mail address

Username

Country of origin

India

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Personal homepage or blog

Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

Introduction Importance of Education is hardly to be overemphasized. Education, Education and Education is the most important aspect in our life and society. We all know that a century back, the great saint Swami Vivekananda envisaged that education is the panacea for all evils that choke the nerves of India. Education enlightens people from ignorance. It helps to develop knowledge in various fields and builds character to withstand the troubles of life. It is the essential component of human development. Both economic and social developments of a country or region are highly correlated with the number of educated persons working in different fields like science, literature, medicine, agriculture, engineering and technology. Thus a country’s development mainly depends on its educational status. Therefore, it is more imperative for any country or region to attach great stress for its educational development. The education system is to equip every citizen to acquire essential knowledge and skill for building capabilities for their functioning in the society and every one has to acquire certain minimum level of education for being able to realize his or her potential in living a meaningful life. Swami Vivekananda said, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man”.

Education is in fact a vast subject; it encompasses many aspects and requires lot of analysis and discourses for its improvement. It is difficult for me to dwell upon such issues, rather I would prefer to constrain myself in this article on a particular aspect, i.e. role of voluntary organizations for eradication of illiteracy.

Present Scenario Literacy rate, defined as the percentage of people aged 7 and above who can read and write to total population, is considered as a general measure of education. But unfortunately, even after 67 years of independence we have not been able to properly educate our people. Overall literacy rate was only 17 percent in 1951 which increased to 74.7 percent according to 2011 census in India. This implies that more than 25percent of people are still illiterate. If we consider the rate for rural India (68 percent) the situation is more dismal. There is wide variation across states in literacy rates, ranging from 63% (Bihar) to 94% (Kerala). Literacy rate of West Bengal during 2011 was 77%. A study based on NSS data indicates the grim picture that about 86% of female agricultural labourers and 74% of female farmers are either illiterate or have education below the primary level.

Government of India in its National Education Policy adopted many schemes and programmes in tune with UN for overall educational development of the country at various levels. We are having District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Universalisation of Elementary Education & Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), Adult Education programmes etc. Yet we have not been able to eradicate illiteracy totally from our country like other advanced countries of the world. Perhaps this is due to vastness of the country with majority living in rural areas and having poor economic condition. These people cannot afford to go to school even having free education for all at primary and secondary levels. A farmer needs his son or daughter in the field more than school. Few prefer to send their child to work as a laborer (even though illegal) in different informal sectors or household for domestic works. Therefore, the school needs to go to the farmer or others. As Swami Vivekananda said “ If Mahammad does not go to mountain, the mountain must go to Mahammad” These days thinkers all over the world have realized that unless an improvement at the grass root level is done the condition that we face today will be a death knell for the whole human civilization.

Need for Mass Education Though there are many Government Schemes for the poor, these are mostly unknown to the target population who thus cannot avail the benefits of such schemes. There are free training on agricultural development, small scale entrepreneurship development etc. which remain undetached to those uneducated mass of our society. Hence education is the only means to know and avail those facilities for their own development.

Community outreach programmes may be undertaken so that the unprivileged also come under the umbrella of education. 'Each one teach one'- should not remain a mere slogan. If everyone gives some time to impart education, some basic knowledge to the underprivileged mass of our society, it is possible to achieve our target in 'Mass Education’. But it is otherwise very difficult to achieve. Without educating the mass we cannot imagine of the all round development of our countrymen.

For achieving substantial and sustained poverty-reduction, a crime free environment, a pollution free world, and for ensuring social justice there can be no other substitute to mass education. For this there is a need for inclusion of civil society, voluntary organizations and local democratic institutions to enable the governance system. And so the voluntary organizations have to come forward to join hands with the stream of service rendered by government. These organizations have special qualities in their style of functioning such as flexibility in operation, sensitivity to changing needs, high level of motivation of the functionaries and innovations. Compared to Government aids that have to undergo a long process to reach a victim, a voluntary organization reaches him within a very short time. Several missionaries viz. Ramakrishna mission, Gandhi Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, and many other voluntary organizations have started contributing for this noble cause. These organizations are noted for their contribution to education as well as health, rehabilitation and relief works.

In the village areas the change has been much felt. Under Sarvasiksha Mission there are several schemes to increase the literacy rate. Mid day meal system has been implemented with a view to motivating the parents to send their children to school. And if the trend continues a day will come when the Non-formal and adult education will not be a headache. In this regard voluntary organizations should also arrange similar programmes to lend a hand in this noble mission. How far it is feasible in the urban areas time will tell, but in the rural areas it is working a lot. Even the parents say that the health of their children has improved. The standard of learning is on its way next as only a healthy body can retain a healthy brain.

Concept of Patronage and Voluntary Organizations Involvement of voluntary organizations for educational upliftment is not a new concept. Government of India in its draft National Policy on Education, 1979 in section in 19 and 20 mentioned about Community Participation and of Voluntary Organizations. It stated that voluntary organizations will be encouraged to support and supplement the programme formulated to implement the national policy. In early days in India, Raja Maharajas were great patrons of education. Historically in Bengal many school buildings, colleges and even Universities are housed in the properties of the liberal aristocrats. Notable examples include, Rajabazar Science College and University of Burdwan. People volunteered with time, labour and money. This tradition needs to be rejuvinated.

A lot of voluntary organizations have taken interests in giving the needy children free education. Several orphanages have come into being. The Rahara Ramakrishna Mission Orphanage can be mentioned in this context. Besides this many branches of Ramakrishna Mission give free coaching to needy students. Voluntary organizations like this should protect the orphan from landing in the world of crime by providing them free education.

Role of Voluntary organizations In many states of our country, the role of voluntary organizations has been recognized as a very important aspect to solve the multifarious problems; particularly to help improve the livelihood of the rural folks. The great patriotic monk, Swami Vivekananda, gave a clarion call to his countrymen to serve the common mass and provide them with necessary support to fulfill the objectives of life. This only ensures that our own progress is not hindered in any way as we cannot achieve our goal as long as our fellow men are lagging behind in any field of life.

The voluntary organizations have to take it a mission to maintain equality by running high quality schools in the backward areas for the benefit of the poor children, who in their later life can compete with their counterparts living in the main stream of life. They should play a constructive role in tackling social menace like crime, drug abuse or insult to the Matrishakti in any manner. In every aspect we have to remember the motto- ‘good for one and all’. Women empowerment should be done to provide them strength to fight for their own cause and that can be possible if they are given education, professional training and job opportunities to enhance their value in the society.

Role of Wikipedia for Education

The role of Wikipedia is highly commendable for the overall promotion of all round educational development throughout the world. I am sure everyone knows how voluntary service is being rendered by them. Even they work at grass root level for educational development through their ambassadors and volunteers.

Some suggestions We can think of ’Education Worker' - like sales representatives to visit the poor, underprivileged people in their village/ locality with folding black-board, books, maps, charts and other audio-visual gadgets. They can teach the children in their village and can also interact with the elderly people along with a newspaper. They can give ideas about banking / saving etc. for their own future development and security. In most of the village people are cheated by moneylenders. These education workers can educate them about savings in Bank / Post Office and about insurance as well. Now with bio-metric identification one can open a bank account and mobile banking facilities are also available in remote villages. But most of the people are unaware of those activities. I think the local clubs, associations and political organizations through their local committees may deploy their members and cadres for regular literacy camps to teach poor people so as to eradicate illiteracy. Voluntary organizations may also be given the responsibility of eradicating illiteracy from a particular block or locality. They should also take up initiatives to encourage people to teach adults, especially mothers, so that the younger generations can take up learning automatically.

Conclusion In conclusion, I sincerely hope that all the government or voluntary organizations should also do some work to help the general mass in realizing the truth that we are fast sinking morally, spiritually, and environmentally. They must come forward to contribute towards public meetings to encourage the youth to participate in the building of the nation. In short they should offer some exemplary incentive to motivate the youth to think anew. And this mission can be fulfilled if the organizations themselves are free from all sorts of greed, profit seeking and self-motive and self-interests. Let Swamiji’s words reverberate in their mind when they serve with all their zeal "…the poor, the illiterate, the ignorant, the afflicted -- let these be your God. Know that service to these alone is the highest religion”. This alone can ensure that future India will once again can regain her past glory as Swamiji envisioned.

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Outreach

Language of Track

English

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30 minutes

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