Adult Education In India

-

Adult Education In India

( By Rounakshi Dey  )

Image By:- Sukriti Singh

What was the last time you checked the literacy rate in India? Maybe a few years back out of a whim. We, the educated folks in India never paid any heed to the literacy rate of our country. We do not even know the condition of the education system, persisting in our rural areas. India has a literacy rate of just 74.04 percent. Not all our brothers and sisters are capable of even signing their names, hence we still haven’t reached a literacy rate of 100 percent. Now, let us define Education. Education is said to be a unique investment for our present and our future. Education brings about the overall development of an individual. It imparts moral values, social norms, textual knowledge, practical examples, and the list continues. It makes us a complete individual. This process of education begins from our childhood. We get enrolled in schools then we get into colleges and then in universities.


But is this the only form of education? The answer is No. Education is primarily of two types: Formal Education and Informal Education. Formal Education is consciously planned for the modification of behavior with a particular end in view. It is undertaken in schools or institutions, established and maintained for this purpose. It has begun since our childhood as we get enrolled in nursery classes. However the main disadvantage of this formal education is that it has a specific time frame, we cannot start our formal education at any age that we like. Informal Education, on the other hand, refers to education that we receive from our practical life. This education can be undertaken at any point in time. There are no specialized organizations teaching us informal education. Often we hear an auto-rickshaw driver, saying that he has never been to school. Yet he is perfect in his calculation while returning the balance of the fare to his customers. He has probably learned numbers, addition, and subtraction from his elders. He does not know any higher mathematics but he definitely knows the basic mathematics he requires to earn this livelihood. Examples like this are common in our daily lives. Most of the people in our country are informally educated.


Adult Education refers to providing educational facilities for adults who could not undergo a regular course of formal education during their school ages. With the view of Adult Education in mind, Government of India had launched a series of programs, as a part of the five year Plan, the most prominent among them being the National Literacy Mission launched in 1988, with an objective to impart literacy to the non-literates in the age group of 15-35 in a time-bound manner. By the end of the 10th 5 year Plan, this plan successfully made 127.45 million people across the Nation, literates. Both the central government and the state government together contribute and promote adult education in the nation. We have a dedicated wing in the Ministry of Human Resource Development that solely looks after the adult education in our country.


The Saakshar Bharat Programme was formulated in the year 2009, with the objective of achieving 80% literacy level throughout the nation. It has four broader objectives, namely imparting functional literacy and numeracy to non-literates; acquiring equivalency to the formal educational system; imparting relevant skill development programs; and promoting a learning society by providing opportunities for continuing education. It was mainly targeted towards female education and education of the minorities in India. India has a huge disparity among male and female literacy rates. This program was targeted at reducing the huge gap between male and female education. This mission was undertaken at the district level. Each district was divided into parts based on the literacy rate of those parts. Places showing poorer literacy rates compared to others were combined together and this plan was implemented there.

Apart from the government, various NGOs have taken up the wing of Adult Education. Our government provides funds to these NGOs under two schemes: (i) Assistance to Voluntary Agencies in the field of Adult Education and (ii) Jan Shikshan Sansthan's. These two schemes aim at one single aspect providing adult education in our Nation. Adult Education hasn’t been only restricted to providing formal textual education among the citizens, it also aims at developing various soft skills among the women in the villages. These NGOs go to the villages, conduct workshops, teach different soft skills like weaving, embroidery, etc. to the housewives and allow them to earn their livelihood. This improves the overall economic status of these women in the society.

Adult Education is a necessity in a developing country like India. Education can never be formally tied to a particular age. Everyone should get a fair chance of getting educated. Education should be our birthright. Our government and various NGOs are actively working towards the betterment of society. It’s time we should do our bit. Maybe we can start with our house help or her children. We can take out an hour or two in the entire week to teach these ill-fated people. If every privileged citizen takes this as her responsibility, it won’t be far when our nation will proudly achieve a 100 percent literacy rate.



No. of Beneficiaries under Adult Education Programme (Sakshar Bharat) - Source: MHRD,2018 

Also, Budget expenditure (across Centre & State) on the Adult Education Programme increased from 947 crores in 2012-2013 to 1456 crores in 2014-2015


Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.







An NGO, run by group of socially active, determined & educated youths, aims to educate underprivileged children.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 2, 2020 at 12:53 AM

    Informative article emphasizing on Adult Education.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading, drop your valuable comments & feedback...

Some Popular Posts

Will there be the End of Mother Earth?

-
Image
THE DOMINANT NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS - Will there be the End of Mother Earth? ( by Mehak Datta) "We are living on this planet as if we have another one to go” Aren't we humans so great? We got everything! Sense to feel, love, care for our loved ones, show our emotions and more over we can speak and communicate to our own things but still we are facing so much. Have we ever thought even after having all things with us, we still fail to love the most important thing because of which we are alive? “Our Nature”! Why do we forget that whatever we are, is because of nature? Without it, we found not even be able to survive. We all know the ongoing scenario of world right now; we all facing pandemic situation and are locked inside our houses. We are feeling caged and want to step out of our houses. We are so bored being in four walls in just couple of months so just think about the animals we keep in zoos for our entertainment. Do we think even once before caging them into four walls a
Read more

Child Labor No Time No Play

-
Image
CHILD LABOR NO TIME NO PLAY ( by Adesh Sharma ) Child labor has become the biggest problem in our country. Even after so many Independence Day, we still get to see child labor in our country, which is an embarrassing scene. We have to stop them as much as possible. Our government should also take a hard step against child labor. What is child labor? What are the causes of child labor? How can we stop it? What are the government policies to stop child labor? I will discuss all of the topics in our article. WHAT IS CHILD LABOR:- Child labor is a termite that is hollowing out our country from the inside which we see daily and ignore it. We get to see child labor at hotels every day. Child laborers mostly became orphan children after the parents die there is no one to look after orphaned child then what they do for their living, therefore, they choose child labor We help to choose them child labor because no one supported their children’s after their parents die. No one gives them food wit
Read more

Why recycling should be necessary?

-
Image
Why recycling should be necessary? ( by Neha Soni ) Why should we recycle? A question that is always around us but we fantastically ignore it. So why do we do that? Why don’t we recycle things or at least make some habits in our schools, colleges, or workplace that will segregate the recyclable products? The answer is simple- we are either not bothered or not have enough knowledge of the importance of recycling. Recycling is a process in which waste materials are converted into new materials and products. The new products which are formed are used, again get recycled and the cycle repeats. This is done to prevent excessive usage of raw materials and will help us in preserving the environment. Recycling is one of the main components of a waste management system and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" waste motto. Thus, recycling aims at environmental sustainability by substituting staple inputs into recyclable waste outputs.   Products which can be recycled a
Read more

Role of Organic Farming

-
Image
What is the role of organic farming in making future of Agriculture? ( by Neha Soni ) Agriculture is one of the leading sources of food within the World. Human has sacrificed its natural resources for economic development from the period of human civilization to the trendy world. Within the evolutionary period of agriculture, people used the practice of slash and burn agriculture, commonly called Jhum cultivation, where farmers cut down the trees of the forest and burn the plant remains. The ash is employed as a fertilizer and therefore the land is then used for farming or cattle grazing. After cultivation, the area is left for several years to permit its recovery. The farmers then advance to other areas and repeat the method. In earlier days, when Slash and Burn cultivation was in prevalence, enough time-gap was given specified that the land recovered from the effect of cultivation. With increasing population, and repeated cultivation, this recovery phase is completed away with, lea
Read more

World Environment Day

-
Image
World Environment Day ( by Aadesh Sharma ) Greeting to all I hope you all are good. You all know today is World Environment day. World Environments day is celebrated with full of enthuses all over the world. Everyone is participating in this day and encourage the world towards the importance of the environment. The World Environment day is also a "day of people" to do something to protect our environment. This DAY provides us a platform to do something and promote and encourage our resources of environments. During to this pandemic time, our government has decided to organize an online event. So now we all have the responsibility to take participate in an event to promote them by sharing our new idea regarding the environment.  World environment day is the annual event in the world which is organized under the United Nation.  The main focus of World Environment Day is to create awareness among the people to take action regarding the protection of the environment. This day was
Read more

How to Stop Wasting Water?

-
Image
            How to Stop Wasting Water? (By Sravani Binkam) Image By:- Shrut Kapadia Water covers about 71% of our earth that’s the reason why it’s so crucial to understanding and to change the climate. One of the most common ways in which people waste water by leaving the water running when brushing their teeth, shaving, showering, washing the dishes. Turn the tap off as soon as you start brushing, shaving, washing the dishes. For washing the dishes, we have one sink with clean water and one with soapy water. By using this tip, we can reduce water wastage. The average person wastes 30 glasses of water every day. Our toilet could be flushing away up to 5 gallons of water every time we flush. People tend to flush every time the toilet is used, which can waste hundreds of glasses a week. Using a pipe to wash the car can use up gallons of water. If we leave the hose running, then it can end up wasting almost 150 gallons of water. However, if we use a small bucket and sponge to wash the car
Read more