Literacy key to socio-economic betterment: NCHD chief

Islamabad: Illiterate persons are just like handicapped persons, who can be easily betrayed and detracted by anyone because they are unaware of their surroundings and about current affairs. Literacy equips the people with knowledge and awareness skills, which enables them to understand better so they enjoy a better socio-economic life and assists in the nation’s overall development.

This was observed by chairperson of the National Commission of Human Development (NCHD) Razina Alam Khan while presiding the 48th commission meeting here on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by commission members, Khursheed Bharocha from Balochistan, Saba Gul Khattak from KPK, Dr. Sono Khangrani from Sindh, Dr. Mubashar Bhatti from Punjab and representatives of Federal Ministry of Education and Technical Training and Ministry of Finance along with NCHD DG Samina Waqar.

The chairperson of the NCHD said we are a nation of 200 million people; unfortunately more than 64 million of the population is still illiterate even today, which is the main challenge. "Poverty, child labour, terrorism, gender discrimination, issues related to democracy, population growth and ignorance are all consequences of illiteracy. This is a vicious circle, all interlinked, hence all out war against one will disrupt the development chain of a country. Thus it is imperative to liberate ourselves from these shackles of illiteracy; we have to get out of this vicious circle," she said.

While discussing the exacerbating situation of education in the country, the NCHD chairperson said there were 22.4 million children of 5-16 years out of school in the country. She said among those children were 6.4 million of 10-16yrs, who can not be enrolled in government primary schools due to their age factor.

The NCHD is devising a plan of 3 years to enroll all these children in non-formal schools, she observed. Condensed syllabus for these children will be prepared by National Training Institute, after studying 3 years these children will be able to become a part of mainstream, as they will be able to pass primary exam, she said.

"We all are very well aware that illiteracy is the only root cause of all issues, hindering socio-economic development of people. It is a serious fact that illiteracy in our country is still going on a rapid scale, she further added. It is also not a case that is not being handled; numerous initiatives and steps have been taken both by the government and international NGOs as well to resolve this issue," she said.

She said the government had given NCHD two projects of Functional Literacy and National Training Institute in the field of Non Formal Education, which we have to complete in this financial year with full transparency and efficiency.

"The government alone can do nothing; each and every one of us will have to contribute for achieving education goals of Vision 2025 and SDGs," she said. She stressed that there is a dire need that we all stakeholders should work with our full devotions to eradicate illiteracy in the country and made a commitment to make successful all the programs working on illiteracy like NCHD, and many other government, NGOs & INGOs initiatives to never let them die in cold at half way with out completing the agenda.