Can illiteracy really be eradicated

Despite of growing at a decent rate for the past few years, India, the next superpower of the world has still got enormous number of problems to tackle. Government as usual claims that they are trying to iron out all the issues, but still, the people of India come across the loopholes every now and then. Look at this from the world's perspective; it gives a bad image to the nation and it’s an unending matter of shame for us. As an Indian I feel that not only the government but I also have got a big responsibility to start thinking about - how these problems can be resolved and how India can get a good position & respect in the world, which it deserves for last few centuries.

One of the major problems faced by a developing nation like India is the percentage of illiterate people present in the nation. Illiteracy literally means the inability to read and write a particular language, be it local or foreign language. More than 889 million people in the world are supposed to be literate. In order focus on increasing the literacy levels, United Nations Organization announced the year 1990 as International Literacy year. Analysis show that 60% of the adult illiterates are women and 98% of them are found in developing countries.

Many countries have started to expand their education programs in order to reduce the level of illiteracy. As regards India, the census taken in the year 2011 reveals that over 36% of Indian population are illiterates. The literary rates in youth is higher than the adults which is a consoling factor. But female literacy rates in India is lower due to various factors like child marriage and conservatism.

Some facts about different states literacy rate - Kerala is the only state in India to have 100% literacy rate. It is followed by Goa, Tripura, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra, Sikkim. The lowest literacy rate in India is seen in the state of Bihar. We also need to think why is the literacy rate is low here in India compared to other developed countries. Basically the population in India is very high. Being the 7th largest country its population stands 2nd in the world after China. There are over 1 billion people in India. The number of schools and educational centers especially in rural areas is less. Even today many people are below the poverty line. Also people aren't aware that children should get free education according to the law.

To reduce illiteracy, various steps should be taken, not only by the government but each and every Indian should follow them.

-All the Indians should go to school without any compromise. The Government should make education free in all the government schools.

-Government should check that each and every family is educating their kids by sending them to the local school.

-We as citizens of India should tie-up with the Governement and volunteer to check all houses / schools in all the areas of the town once in 15-30 days. If any family is caught, who is not sending their kids to the school should be punished.

-Government & private companies should pay a good salary or incentives to the employees who are getting their kids a good / standardized education.

-The goverment should punish the MLAs / MPs if their region has low level of education or school going kids. Or even a single kid not going to school.

-All families in villages / small towns / shanties (like Dharavi) in big cities should be made aware of the rule.

-Government and we citizens should keep a target of 3 years to implement this project (meaning that every kid and uneducated person starts going to school). Uneducated adult through an evening school if he or she is working.

-All the teachers in Government and Private schools should have a minimum qualification and trained every 3 months (train the trainer concept). They should be paid well and should get incentives based on their performance and dedication.

-Celebrities / Politicians/ Corporate Honchos have to mandatorily spend 30 days (2 to 3 hrs a day) educating / doing guest lectures in schools and colleges. They should be given a certificate after their 30 days completion and it should be submitted by October 31st every year to a committee. If somebody from the listed fails to do the same he or she should be penalised and not allowed to travel out of India for 1 year.

Hence, by following these steps illiteracy in our country can not only be reduced but it can be eradicated.

Because in this present scenario INDIA DON’T NEED ACTS, INDIA NEEDS ACTION.