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Young World
Chance of a lifetime
JAYASREE SARNATHAN
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Of the 230 million children in India, nearly 40 per cent do not go to school. Approaching World Literacy Day (September 8) what is the possibility of education for all?
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"Stick on bells" — what does that mean asked Amudha, a student of Standard VII. I was perplexed. I asked her where she came across this sentence. "It is there everywhere... on the walls and on houses too." I realised then that it must be "Stick no bills".
I asked Amudha to note the spelling the next time she saw this phrase. The next day she came with the right words — `Stick no bills'. But before I could explain the meaning to her, she said that she understood what it meant but wondered why people would stick bills on walls.
Amudha is not like the scores of other students who go to school and have access to knowledge and information. She is one among the millions of underprivileged children in our country who have either not gone to school or dropped out of school. She was forced to quit her studies when she was in standard II to look after her baby sister, so that her mother could go back to work.
Buttoday things are different. Amudha goes to school. She has been re-admitted to Standard IV after a gap of five years and is now in Std. VII. She is 16 years old.
Initially her parents were reluctant to send her back to school. They were doubtful she would get a job after school. When there so many educated youth who are jobless, what good would it do her if she studied? There are many like Amudha's parents who feel the same.
Of the 230 million children in our country, nearly 40 per cent do not go to school. They are employed for paltry wages that subsidise the family income.
School has given Amudha not only a chance to learn but also a chance to interact with children from different backgrounds. Because of this, behaviour, dress sense, conversation skills and even dreams have undergone tremendous changes.
A literacy drive is more than just increasing enrolment in schools and reducing the drop-our rate. It is an all-encompassing one, covering all types of education and training to adults too. The World Literacy Day (September 8) is therefore a global acknowledgement of the need for social justice and to make it possible for all sections of people to get access to education.
There are many ways we can choose to help the illiterate, but perhaps the easiest way would be to follow the motto "each one teach one". For, when you educate a person you are helping him/ her for a lifetime.
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