When Literacy Flunks: IT Superpower Staring At A Bleak Future

India may have set out on a prestigious Mars mission, but the issue of adult literacy at a mass level is causing concern and affecting the country’s overall productivity.

In a stark contrast to its rapid growth and aspiration to turn into a vibrant economy towards the middle of the 21st century, India is now home to the largest number of illiterate adults, around 287 million or 37% of the global total, according to a report by the United Nations. The country has adopted some robust literacy programmes since 1974, but a lot more efforts are required to raise it to the next level and make education universally accessible.

After every Five-Year Plan, which is a charter to set things moving on the development front, literacy programmes were designed for special segments that needed access to education to be a part of the country’s overall growth process. The National Education Policy came into being in 1986, giving priority to universalisation of elementary education, with focus on backward communities. From then on, the focus shifted to adult literacy programmes.

Having said that, we must take into account that India is a nation of 1.237 billion and the majority of its people live in rural areas. In contrast, the ongoing adult literacy programmes mostly target the urban and the semi-urban population. So far, education in India has remained the preserve of the rich and women belonging to economically stronger sections have already achieved universal literacy. But the poorest may touch the benchmark only towards the end of 21st century.

The 2013-14 Education for All Monitoring Report by the UN has brought to the fore some of the huge disparities in the education levels of India’s rich and the poor. Interestingly, India, which is deemed the superpower in Information Technology, was lauded last year for making education accessible to children across the entire economic spectrum when it implemented the Right To Education (RTE) Act.

But this year’s report shows every fifth young person in the country is unable to read or write, thus justifying the earlier scepticism regarding literacy issues. It also pinpoints a serious setback to the UN’s mission of universal education by 2015.

The global slowdown has cast its shadow on many developmental aspects but unless we are careful, high adult illiteracy rate across the country can prove to be a major hindrance when it comes to growth. Sociologists also argue that stagnant literacy rates, among children and adults, can pose a serious threat to the social fabric of the country.

The most direct impact will be in terms of increased inequality while the job market might elude young adults, driving them towards social aggression. Lack of formal education and reduced earning capacity may also lead to increase in crime rates.

According to the UN report, the Indian government’s efforts to extend primary education to the bottom of the pyramid have brought some bright results, making it the largest country in the world to have reduced the number of school dropouts. But even then, some experts have been sceptical about the progress.

And rightly so. As per the UN observation, global education budget had not been the focus area and stood at $14.4 billion during 2009-10 while the number of illiterate adults remained static during this period. In 2010-2011, aid for education was reduced by $1 billion and countries are now spending even less on education.

The UN has not pressed the panic button yet, but there are clear indications that the original target of 2015 cannot be reached. The UN has advised countries with low education index among adults to strengthen their tax regimes, so that they are able to generate and channelise more funds to the education sector. Other countries which are in the same league as India are the Philippines and Egypt.

In India, education accounts for 10.5% of the total government expenditure, even with policy level changes. This is close to 3.3% of the gross national product (GNP) and way below the 6% target set by the UN. The decrease in education spending will seriously jeopardise the huge progress the country had made in the previous years.

As per the UN report, families had to bear at least 28% of the education cost at primary and secondary levels, which is way too high, compared to the most developed countries. This gives rise to some pertinent questions as far as family-backed efforts are concerned. Is the education cost a prohibitive factor that keeps the rural youth away? Or is it the lack of commitment on part of the government to create attractive programmes for the ‘education abstaining’ population that’s keeping them away?

Either way, any failure on the part of the government can negatively impact the future of the country and its youth. If the current issues are not addressed at the earliest, it will lead to bigger number of dropouts, widespread poverty and a possible increase in crime rates for fast and easy bucks. Hopefully, India can escape that fate.