Literacy success story now seems a fiasco

Shimla, March 11: The literacy campaign in Roopnagar district, which had topped the country in the National Literacy Programme in 1997-98...

Shimla, March 11: The literacy campaign in Roopnagar district, which had topped the country in the National Literacy Programme in 1997-98, has come to a standstill.

Though a sum of about Rs 1 crore has already been spent on the campaign in this district, a majority of the neo-literates are back to square one in the absence of proper guidance, as almost all literacy centres have become non-functional here.

The campaign was divided in two parts: The "Total Literacy Campaign" (TLC), which lasted till March 31, 1997 and was a great success, and the "Post Literacy Project” (PLP) introduced from April 1, 1997. The PLP, which aimed to educate the left-out illiterates in the age group of 15-45 years and dropouts in the age group of 6-14 years, has fizzled out and is scheduled to conclude on March 31 this year. Residents of some villages of this sub-division disclosed that books distributed to them were lying waste, as the classes either did not start or were held for a few days only. Sharnajit Kaur of Fatehpur Theri village, said the literacy centre, which worked regularly in their village during the TLC, stopped working in the middle of 1997. Sukhwant Kaur (65) of Bharanunjian village was taught to write her name but now she uses a thumb impression. Balbir Kaur (40) of Suhali village said she knew how to write her name, but was unable to read or write anything else. She asked, “does one become literate by merelylearning to write one’s own name ?”

Story continues below this ad

Roopnagar ADC Khushi Ram, who is also secretary of Zila Sakharta Samiti, refused to comment on the state of affairs.

Pyare Lal Garg, state coordinator of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), while remembering the services of Vini Mahajan, former deputy commissioner of Roopnagar, accused the administration of doing nothing practical in the affair. He disclosed that he had written to Roopnagar Deputy Commissioner Kulbir Singh Sidhu, alleging that monthly reports sent by the district administration were false and baseless.

Dr Paramjit Singh, district coordinator, Roopnagar Zila Sakharta Samiti, said the main aim of the campaign was to teach illiterates to read and count to maintain their domestic accounts. It was to acquaint them with reasons for their poverty and other social problems, he added.

It may be recalled that the district-based literacy movement was introduced in Roopnagar to eradicate illiteracy in the district within a definite time period. Roopnagar was the third district in Punjab, after Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur to take up the TLC programme since its inception in the country.The National Literacy Mission (NLM) had sanctioned an ad hoc grant of Rs 68.25 lakh and Punjab government had given an amount of Rs 34.12 lakh for the programme. Altogether, the total amount available to the Zila Sakharta Samiti was Rs 1,02,37,000.