INTRODUCTION
Constitution of the Literacy Committee of NDC 1. In pursuance of the decision taken at the 43rd meeting of the National Development Council held on 23 - 24 December, 1991, an NDC Committee on Literacy was constituted on 3rd April, 1992 comprising the following eight members :
1. Shri Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister, Chairman
Uttar Pradesh
2. Shri Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Member
Resource Development, Govt. of India
3. Shri Ajit Kumar Panja, Minister of Member
State (Independent Charge) of the
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,
Govt. of India
4. Shri Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister, Member
West Bengal
5. Shri Lalthanhawla, Chief Minister, Member
Mizoram
6. Shri Beant Singh, Chief Minister, Member
Punjab
7. Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, Chief Minister Member
Bihar
8. Dr. (Mrs.) Chitra Naik, Member Member-
Planning Commission Secretary
2. Consequent on vacancy in the office of Chief Minister U. P. in December, 1992, Shri Lalthanhawla, Chief Minister Mizoram was designated as the Chairman of the Committee by the Order dated 11.1.1993 which also extended the Term of the Committee till the end of January, 1993.
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Terms of Reference
1. The terms of reference of the Committee were as follows :
To review the progress of schemes for eradicating
existing illiteracy (National Literacy Mission) as well
as schemes for prevention of future incidence of
illiteracy through universalisation of elementary
education; and to assess the magnitude of the task
involved, in order to determine and reach the goals to
be achieved by the end of the Eighth Plan.
2. To suggest measures for reduction of social, gender and
regional disparities in literacy achievement during the
Eighth Plan. To suggest measures for Promotion of
Literacy and elementary education through Panchayat Raj
Institutions and Village Education Committees with a
view to ensuring full benefit of democratic
decentralisation for achieving the literacy goal.
3. To recommend ways and means for involving nongovernmental
agencies, youth organisations, women's organizations,
professional organisations, trade & industry, labour and
cooperative sector etc. in a total literacy movement.
4. To suggest measures for enlisting and harnessing the
cooperation and the potential of various folk-media,
print-media and electronic media for promotion of
literacy both in the matter of environment building and
support programmes.
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6. To suggest structures and modalities, efficient
administration, monitoring and evaluation of literacy
activities so as to utilise all possible resources
available at the Panchayat, Block and District levels in
order to integrate the literacy movement with child-
care, child-development, women's economic empowerment,
population limitation and reduction of IMR and maternal
mortality, etc.
7. To suggest measures for providing post-literacy and
continuing education, both academic and vocational for
those who are already literate, neo-literates and for
women in particular so as to improve their opportunities
to participate in and benefit from socio-economic
development.
Literacy Perspective 4. The significance of education as an investment in socio- economic development had been recognised very early by our national leaders and they had, therefore, persistently struggled for universalization of primary education as a part of the freedom movement. After independence, Article 45 of the Indian Constitution as well as several Committees and Commissions stressed education as the foundation of national reconstruction and upgradation of the people's quality of life. The National Policy on Education (NPE) (1992) has once again highlighted the importance of literacy and elementary education as an inescapable investment for human development. Provision of equality of opportunity through Universalisation of Elementary Education
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(UEE) as also the instrumentality of UEE for strengthening social cohesion and the democratic process, are now recognized as the most crucial aspects of educational action, especially in developing countries.
5. Socio-economic development is generally assessed on the basis of five major indicators, viz. the growth-rate of the economy, birth rate, death rate, Infant mortality rate (IMR) and literacy rate. All these are interconnected but the literacy rate has been the major determinant of the rise or fall in the rate of other indicators. There is already enough evidence in India to show that a high literacy rate, especially in the case of women, correlates with low birth-rate, low IMR and increase in he rate of life-expectancy. Kerala State in which the overall literacy rate is 86.93%, being the highest not only in India but comparable with that in some advanced countries, also has the lowest IMR - 17 per thousand as against the country's average of 80. It also has the lowest proportion of married females in the age group 15 - 19, and a very low death rate. Literacy of parents has always been a stimulator of good enrollment, retention and achievement at the primary stage as seen from the Kerala example and such experience elsewhere. In comparison, he State of Uttar Pradesh shows quite the opposite picture. Its total literacy rate is only 41.71 per cent in which the female literacy rate is just 26.02 per cent. Correspondingly, it has a high MR, high birth-rate and high-death rate. It has a high proportion of married females in age group 15-19 and a low couple-protection rate. World Bank Studies in 29 Developing Countries have shown that infant and child mortality rates are
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in inverse proportion to the level of education of mothers and that each year of schooling for girls and women's literacy means further reduction of IMR and lower birth-rate. A study conducted by ICMR in 1990-91 on "Immunisation Programme and Maternal and Child Health" in the States of U.P., M.P., Rajasthan and Bihar has shown that the immunisation status of children of literate mothers is better than that of illiterate mothers both in urban and rural areas. Reduction of sickness arising from lack of hygiene, malnutrition, and superstitious practices has also been noticed in families which have literate women members. This improvement in health leads to reduction of national cost on health services while providing to the country more capable human resources. The conclusion that literacy and education of women lead to a higher pace of population control and to greater economic productivity has awakened the world to the need to focus upon literacy and elementary education programmes not simply as a matter of social justice but more pertinently as a matter of economic growth, social well-being and social stability.
6. The question of environment is also closely connected with education. It has been observed that environmental awareness and achievement in environmental conservation and preservation, increase in direct proportion to the increase in the literacy level of a country. In the National Environmental Awareness Campaigns organised by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, it has been observed that the maximum number of proposals for organising environmental activities are received from the States where the literacy rate is quite high. In the
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sphere of unconventional energy resources also, women's literacy and education have proved to be strong supportive factors.
7. The impact of elementary education and basic literacy on economic growth has been decisive. Research in developing countries has found returns to primary schooling averaging around 27 per cent while returns to secondary around 15 to 17 per cent. When education reaches economically and socially deprived groups, it brings about economic betterment not only for these groups but simultaneously promotes overall economic upgradation for the entire society through reduced dependency, increased productivity, and reduction in subsi- dized social services. UNESCO studies have shown that a stabilized adult literacy level of 70 per cent is a positive indication of uni- versal primary education and a critical threshold for economic growth. According to the 1991 census, India has achieved 52.11 per cent lit- eracy for the age-group 7 years and above. Thus it is short of the threshold only by 17.89 per cent. But this gain must be stabilized in an even manner in all States and UTs. As it happens, the progress of UEE and literacy has not been equally good in all the States and UTs and a rapid removal of disparities is essential. Reaching the thresh- old of 70 per cent and stabilizing it, as also moving above it to 80 per cent, is necessary in all strata of society. This can be done by making schooling and literacy a common custom created by social de- mand. At present, in the States which are classified as educationally backward, the growth of literacy and UEE is below the national aver- age. In these States, intensive efforts are necessary to
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increase, in as short a time-span as possible, adult literacy rates and achievement-oriented primary / elementary education for the 6 - 14 age-group. For this, special emphasis on the schooling of girls, and children from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, is necessary. A study quoted in the document "Challenge of Education" (1985) declares that by 2000 AD, India would have the dubious distinction of carrying within its population 54% of the world's illiterate youth (age 15-19). The calamitous impact it is likely to have or) the social fabric and economic condition of the country is too obvious to need any elaboration here. For the sheer survival of our people in the competitive world of to-day where access to technology has become the main instrument for economic and social well-being, the question of literacy and primary education has to be the 'question of question', to use the phraseology found in Gopal Krishna Gokhale's pleadings for universal primary education while he presented a Bill for the purpose in the Viceroy's Council in 1912. The Bill were thrown out and along with it were thrown out India's future prospects as well. That damage can still be repaired by independent India, provided we understand the extent of that damage and muster our national will. with such determi- nation that we restore to every individual in our country the opportu- nity to acquire literacy and primary education so that the bright destiny that our Founding Fathers saw in their vision of India becomes a reality at not too distant a date. It was this overall perspective that guided the committee's deliberations.
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Meetings, Materials and Consultations 9. The Committee had five sittings on 1st June, 8th July, 15th September, 1992, 19th November, 1992 and 22nd January, 1993 respec- tively.
10. The resource support to the first meeting of the Committee was provided in the form of relevant, documents, namely Literacy Digest, 1991, a status Paper on Adult Education, a note on the 'Poli- cies and Strategies of Elementary Education', extracts from the Chap- ter on Adult Education of Kothari Commission Report, summary of the recommendations of the CABE Committee on Policy (1992), Compilation of Statistics on Literacy and an expository note on the Terms of Refer- ence. Besides, there were presentations on the current status of adult and elementary education in India by the Director General of National Literacy Mission and Joint Educational Adviser (Elementary Education Bureau), Ministry of HRD. The comments made by the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting on the role of the media in the promotion of literacy and the need to have effective linkages among health, education, information and broadcasting, the views of the Education Ministers of Bihar and West Bengal on the current situa- tion of adult and elementary education in their respective states, and the effective intervention by Chief Minister, Mizoram, in the second meeting, further facilitated the deliberations of the Committee. The discussions during the first meeting revolved around the main issues related to the implementation strategies. The need to ponder over the past failures and developing new strategies to overcome them, as well
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as the importance of viewing universalisation of elementary education and eradication of illiteracy in an integrated manner were stressed.
11. It was decided that the views of eminent and experienced persons working in the area of elementary and adult education and written comments from all the State Governments and Union Territories, should be sought. Nine States and Union territories responded: Guja- rat, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshwadeep and Delhi. The action-points suggested by them are classified thematically and are given in Annexure-1.
12. The views of the experts who either appeared before the Committee during the second meeting or sent written comments are classified thematically and are given in Annexure-II.
13. The Member-Secretary held a series of consultations with specialists from the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration and the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, who provided documentation relating to evalua- tion of literacy campaigns, non-formal education, etc. The Member- Secretary also invited from other experts essential notes and papers covering the possible strategies for maximisation of collaboration between governmental and nongovernmental agencies and governmental and people's financing of elementary and adult education.
14. These papers and comments of specialists and State Govern- ments were circulated among the members of the Committee.
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The Committee in its third meeting took note of the contents of the Revised Programme of Action (POA) 1992 based on the modified NPE 1986 and the strategies visualised in the Eighth Five Year Plan. In the light of these, the Committee's discussions focused upon the possible recommendations, fox-mat of the Committee's Report, and the procedure of drafting the report. it was decided that the innovative suggestions made by the State Governments and specialists should be incorporated in the report at appropriate places and the report should be made as precise and yet as comprehensive as possible and that the recommendation should be practical. The draft report was circulated in the first week of November, 1992 and was discussed in the fourth meeting held on 19.11.1992. The final report was signed in the meeting held on 22.1.1993.
Design of the Report Apart from this introduction, the Report has five chapters. While in Chapter I, a historical. perspective of elementary education in India is provided, Chapter II gives the present scenario with a view to providing a background to the
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present Report. Chapter III highlights further suggestions made by the Committee with particular reference to the management changes essential for a successful and continuous programme of Elementary and Adult Education, its pedagogical and infrastructural aspects, and community participation. The financing of elementary and adult education is dealt with in Chapter IV, Chapter V presents the summary of recommendations. Action-points suggested by the State Governments and UTs, experts, and in POA 1992, are given in Annexure I - III which are followed by statistical tables (1-14) and a select bibliography.
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