Prime Minister Mamohan Singh on the occasion of International Literacy Day on Tuesday gave an assurance that his government?s commitment to providing good quality education to every child in the country would not be compromised by a lack of resources. Launching the National Mission for Female Literacy christened ?Sakshar Bharat Mission?, the Prime Minister said that there was a need to renew the ?efforts of the 1980s and 1990s when we were able to make a significant dent in the problem of illiteracy?.
Before reading out from his prepared address, the PM pointed out that his government accorded the greatest importance to the education sector which was evident from his government choosing the ?finest minds? to head the HRD ministry. Showering praise on the human resources development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal and minister of state (MoS) D Purandeshwari, the PM said the duo constituted a team of ?nation builders? that any country would be proud of.
Noting that while India had made considerable progress since independence with literacy levels moving up from 18% in the 1950s to 52% in 1991 and 65% in 2001? the highest ever decadal growth ? Singh said there was still a long way to go. ?One third of India?s population continues to be illiterate. About half of our women still cannot read or write. The number of illiterates in India is the highest in all nations of the world. Persistent illiteracy, particularly among women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and other disadvantaged groups, is a challenge we must face head on. We must make our nation fully literate, if we want to empower the average citizen and make rapid progress?, he said.
The Mission would be implemented in 1.7 lakh gram panchayats spread over 365 districts which have a low female literacy rate as also 33 districts affected by Left-wing extremism. Eighty-five per cent of its beneficiaries would be women and nearly half of them would be from SCs, STs and minorities. The total estimated cost of the mission is Rs 6,502 crore and the Central share is about Rs 4,993 crore. The sharing between the Centre and states would be 75:25 except in the north-eastern states where the ratio will be 90:10.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said there was an urgent need to focus on educational empowerment of disadvantaged sections like SC/STs, OBCs and Minorities. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal outlined the details of ?Sakshar Bharat? saying that its target was to raise literacy levels from the current 64% to 80%, reduce the gender gap from the current 21% to 10% and to focus on eradicating female illiteracy and rural illiteracy on a mission mode. Sibal said that Panchayati Raj institutions would be the ?fulcrum? of the Mission and a web based Management Information System (MIS) put in place for real time monitoring.
