APPENDIX `I' MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 11 : GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE FOURTH FIVE YEAR PLAN FOR SPEEDY LIQUIDATION OF ILLITERACY
Liquidation of Illiteracy has been indicated as the core activity (though not the sole activity) of the social education programme. As is well known, literacy programmes started in Indian towards the close of the 19th century as a voluntary effort, with very meagre help from the then Government. With the advent of popular Ministries in 1987 the approach changed substantially and some of Provincial Governments accepted responsibility for Adult Education and the tempo of literacy work increased, at least for some time till the popular Ministries resigned. Soon after Independence the CABE emphasised (in 1948) that organisation of Adult Education in India had become imperative and a Committee was appointed to go into the question. The Report of the Committee, known as the Saksena Report, was adopted by the CABE in 1949. The work done in this field before the initiation of the First Five Year Plan is summed up in the All-India Report on Social Education (1947-51) published by the Ministry of Education.
2. With the advent of Five Year Plans the work of Social Education including literacy was substantially provided for in the Community Development Programmes. Although a good deal of work has been done in this field the effort did not meet with the desired success for various reasons such as :
(i) Lack of personnel and funds-substantial parts of which were diverted to other purposes ;
(ii) Inadequate development of supporting services and follow up work;
(iii) Lack of complete co-ordination between various agencies working in this sector.
3. Statistical information about the progress of Social Education work is shown in the note at Annexure XII It is obvious from these statistics that our literacy work has not even kept pace with the increase in population with the result that 17 years after Independence, the number of illiterates in the Country is estimated to be larger than in 1947. This wide-spread illiteracy is a great impediment in the country's efforts at economic development. Increased production with the assistance of the knowledge gained through science and technology cannot be achieved in agriculture as well as in industry unless illiteracy is liquidated through a special drive and within a reasonably short period. On the other hand, there are problems of the personnel, funds and administrative organisation which indicate the necessity of laying down targets at a much lower level-liquidation of illiteracy in as long a period as 15 to 20 years.
75
76
4. Another allied question is clarity of concept in regard to the standards of literacy to be aimed at amongst the general masses. The citizen cannot become an active participant in the country's development and production programme unless he attains a standard of literacy which helps him to improve his efficiency as a unit of production. Annexure `B' is a note on the standard of literacy to be aimed at in the literacy programme.
5. Literacy whether achieved to the extent of the standard indicated in Annexure XIII or to lower standards cannot be sustained unless adequate supporting services are developed. These might be broadly classified into:
(a) an adequate library organisation at all levels; for this purpose it is not enough to have good libraries at State Capitals and district headquarters alone ; these libraries should be linked up with libraries at block and village levels also. The book stock of smaller libraries should be replenished continously by those of the district and State central libraries ;
(b) production of suitable literature, reading materials and audio-visual aids ; the Ministry of Education has certain schemes for encouraging the production of literature for children and adults. Books/manuscripts are invited for competitions and successful authors are awarded prizes, but compared to the need of providing literature for the entire reading public, these endeavours are not adequate. There is a clear necessity for production of literature in all the 14 languages of the nation in a much bigger scale and what is more important, the supply of these books to the libraries of various kinds and institutions should be ensured; and
(c) an organisation which will ensure that the services of the, libraries and the literature produced continuously reach the children and adult alike.
6. The CABE may consider the present position in regard to the literacy effort as a part of the Social Education Programme and advise on the following points:
(i) Whether determined and concerted community efforts could be mobilised so as to liquidate illiteracy within a reasonable period? If so, what would be the agencies parti- cipating in this effort and what would be the period to be fixed as a target for complete liquidation of illiteracy?
(ii) In the context of advice to be given on (i) what should be the standard of literacy to be aimed at? If the standard is to be lowered than what is indicated in Annexure XIII, should there be a separate and more intensified effort though limited in its coverage to achieve the higher standing viz. "functional literacy". If the Board advises that this separate effort should be made, what should be the target and the agency for it?
77
(iii) What kind of library organisation would provide the requisite supporting services for the efforts to be made under (i) and (ii) above?
(iv) Suggestions in regard to the production of literature, reading materials, audio-visual aids etc. to provide follow- up activities in respect of neo-literates.
ANNEXURE XII
I. Percentage of Literacy in India (1951-61)
1951 1961
State Men Women All Men Women All
persons persons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Andhra Pradesh . . 19.7 6.5 13.1 29.7 11.8 20.8
Assam . . 27.4 7.9 18.3 35.5 14.6 25.8
Bihar . . . 20.5 3.8 12.2 29.6 6.8 18.2
Gujarat . . . . 32.3 13.5 23.1 40.8 19.1 30.3
Jammu & Kashmir . . N.A. N.A. N.A. 16.3 4.2 10.7
Kerala . . . 50.2 31.5 40.7 54.2 38.4 46.2
Madhya Pradesh . . 16.2 3.2 9.8 26.7 6.6 16.9
Madras . . . 31.7 10.0 20.8 43.0 17.3 30.2
Maharashtra . . . 31.4 9.7 20.9 41.8 16.7 29.7
Mysore . . . 29.1 9.2 19.3 36.0 14.2 25.3
Orissa . . . 27.3 4.5 15.8 34.4 8.6 21.5
Punjab . . . 21.0 8.5 15.2 32.4 13.7 23.7
Rajasthan . . . 14.4 3.0 8.9 22.8 5.7 14.7
Uttar Pradesh . . . 17.4 3.6 10.8 26.7 7.3 17.5
West Bengal . . . 34.2 12.2 24.0 40.0 16.8 29.1
A. & N. Islands . . 34.2 12.3 25.8 42.4 19.4 33.6
Delhi . . . 43.0 32.3 38.4 58.9 41.1 51.0
Himachal Pradesh . . 12.6 2.4 7.7 22.6 6.0 14.6
L. M. & A. Islands . . 25.6 5.3 15.2 35.9 10.9 23.3
Manipur . . . N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. 26.4
Tripura . . . 22.3 8.0 15.5 32.2 11.4 22.2
N. E. F. A. . . . N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.
Pondicherry . . . N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.
INDIA . 24.9* 7.9* 16.6* 33.9 12.8 23.7
*Excludes Jammu & Kashmir.
78
79
II. GROWTH OF LITERACY IN INDIA : 1901-1961 Literacy in India has risen from 6.2 to 24 per cent in the period from 1901 to 1961 as shown in the following table:
Percentage of Literates
Census
Year Total Men Women
1901 . . . . . 6.2 11.5 1.7
1911 . . . . . . 7.0 12.6 1.1
1921 . . . . . . 8.3 14.2 1.8
1931 . . . . . . 9.1 15.3 2.4
1941 . . . . . . 14.6 Not avai- Not avai
lable. lable.
1951 . . . . . . 16.6 24.9 7.9
1961 . . . . . . 24.0 33.9 12.8
Note:- The figures for 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1931 are
from "Progress of Literacy in Various Countries", a
UNESCO publication and they refer to population in the
age group of 10 years and above.
The figures for 19.41 are from Statesman Year-book and
for 1951 and 1961 are from Census of India.
III. STATISTICS ABOUT ADULT EDUCATION
Number of adults on Number of adults made
rolls literate
Year Number men women total men women total Number
of (lakh) (lakh) (lakh) (lakh) (lakh) (lakh) of
schools/ Teacher
classes
centres
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1949-50 47,464 9.84 1.66 11.50 5.45 1.12 6.57 39,267
1950-51 48,556 10.56 2.00 12.56 5.25 0.76 6.01 40,587
1951-52 43,463 9.03 1.59 11.62 4.20 0.69 4.89 41,234
1952-53 44,595 9.41 1.48 10.89 4.43 0.65 5.08 52,603
1953-54 39,965 8.56 0.93 9.39 3.63 0.39 4.02 47,042
1954-55 43,223 9.96 1.16 11.12 4.23 0.46 4.69 55,236
1955-56 46,091 11.43 1.36 12.79 4.91 9.54 5.45 44,149
1956-57 44,058 10.60 1.45 11.05 4.95 0.61 5.56 44,663
1957-58 45,961 10.59 1.48 12.07 4.64 0.55 5.19 44,555
1958-59* 47,963 10.80 1.78 12.58 5.20 0.84 6.04 43,926
*Figures are provisional.
These figures would indicate that, in every respect (number of adult schools, number of adults on rolls, number of adults made literate and the number of teachers), there has been very slight improvement since 1949-50.
ANNEXURE XIII
Standards of Literacy The standard which the initial literacy programme of the first stage of literacy should aim at, has to be fixed. Ability to read the first Reader prescribed for the primary or basic schools in the area, is generally regarded as the standard to be attained. Standard for writing may be lower i.e., ability to write a simple message. Literacy is not confined to reading and Writing alone. Simple arithmetic is also included in it. The syllabus recommended by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, shows the course to be covered in the first stage of literacy programme. The following minimum standard is suggested :
Stage I.- (a) Sight recognition of about 250 words.
(b) 90 per cent. comprehension of a piece of writing
within this vocabulary range.
(c) Ability to read simple charts and posters
displayed in in the area.
(d) Acquaintance with the forms in frequent use in the
lives of individuals, for example, money order forms,
etc.
(e) Ability to write simple sentences and most often
used names.
POST-LITERACY WORK Post-literacy work has two aspects. The first is directed towards prevention of relapse into illiteracy. It will be found that many of the learners will not be keen to attempt a further stage of literacy. However, effort is required to prevent their forgetting whatever they have learnt. Many ways have been tried. The simplest is to write on whatever wall space available in the village, simple sayings, slogans and verses composed by saints. Numerals from 1 to 100 and the alphabet may also be written. This keeps the letters before the eye of the villager. Distribution of unstamped postcards has also been successcully tried. Reading and writing groups can be formed with a view to give practice in reading and writing. They should meet once a week to have practice in reading and writing. Simple reading material like wall newspaper and small pamphlets has to be provided. If a printed wall newspaper can be had, it serves well but in the absence of one, writing of news in bold letters on a board or on a wall space can serve the same purpose. The effort to prevent relapse into illiteracy in this manner helps in advancing knowledge also.
Regular post-literacy classes (second stage of literacy) can also be tried. These will be for those adults who have attained the standard of first stage in literacy and are desirous to learn further.
80
81
Reading material of an advanced type can be used in these classes. Improvement of ability of writing should be aimed at. The standard aimed at in these post-literacy classes should, as far as reading and writing ability is concerned, be that of second primary stage. Standard in arithmetic should cover ability to write farm accounts, calculation of interest, working out profit and loss, etc.
The following minimum standard in literacy is suggested:
Stage II.-(a) Sight recognition of about 2,000 words.
(b) Ability to analyse and explain in own words the
contents of a composition of about two pages (700
words).
(c) Ability to write letters and applications most
often needed in the life of an individual.
ANNEXURE XIV
Memorandum submitted by Government of West Bengal relating to Item
No.11. In pursuance of the recommendations of the Library Advisory Committee appointed by the Government of India (1957) a scheme for the development of Public Library Service was enunciated under the `First and Second Five Year Plans. The progress of development of Library Service taken in hand in the First and Second Five Year Plans, could not be maintained on account of the restricted provision in the Third Five Year Plan. In the States, where the State Central Library or District Libraries have so far been set up in the Second Plan period it has neither been possible to strengthen and improve the Central and the District Libraries, adequately, nor has it been possible to provide systematically chains of Urban or Rural Libraries by way of setting up an integrated Public Library Service to serve the needs of the whole State. It would perhaps be agreed that in a country where a substantial part of the people has missed opportunities for schools, and where, even now educational institutions cannot reach the people in remote and difficult areas, a satisfactory library service would play a complementary part to the main educational service which is being progressively expanded. Such a service would stimulate people's love for learning, sustain their literacy and stimulate their continuation education.
With the above objectives, the following suggestions are submit- ted for consideration of the Board :
1. Provision for an adequate Library Development Scheme including-
(i) Block or Anchal Libraries for the rural areas;
(ii) Metropolitan and Town Libraries ;
(iii) Special Libraries for children and for neo-literates.
(iv) Special libraries for women, whose school education has been interrupted.
2. Improvement and expansion of existing State and District Library Service ;
3. Provision for training of library personnel ; and
4. Regular scales of pay as has already been done in regard to Schools and Colleges, etc.
The programme may be included in the Fourth Five Year Plan with adequate financial provision.
(Government of West Bengal)
82