Increasing literacy big challenge for govt
Though the government already lags behind in meeting the literacy targets set for the previous years, the government is under intense pressure to achieve 100 percent literacy by 2015 to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG). For this, Non Formal Education Center (NFEC) needs to make 1.7 million people literate this year alone. The campaign launched in 2009 to meet the MDG of education by 2015, failed to meet its target in the scheduled three years. Though the campaign targeted to make 2.3 million people literate, only 1.8 million people benefited from the drive. The NFEC had carried out survey in 2008, which found that 5.17 million people above 15 years-age were still illiterate in the country. Similarly, the National Census report 2011 revealed that 34.1 percent of the total population was illiterate in the country. In such scenario, the government had to come up with the ambitious plan to make sure that four million people be literate annually to meet the target of total literacy by 2015. For the same, the three-year campaign, from 2013 to 2015, had a target to make 1.3 million people literate per year in a bid to cover 4 million people above 15 years of age who are said to be illiterate. Though the NFEC was to make 1.3 million people literate in the fiscal year 2012/13, the absence of full budget later compelled the office to minimize the first year´s target to just 1.1 million. Following the same limitation, this years´ target has been expanded to 1.7 million. The NFEC has received Rs 1 billion for the campaign this year. Meanwhile, the government again missed 2,00,000 people contrary to the plan as only 0.9 million could be trained to read, write, use mobile phone, calculator and deal with banking business after receiving a three-month training as per the modified course in the last fiscal year. But the Minister for Eduation Madhav Poudel claims that the government can achieve the target in the next two years. “We have made sure that the campaign will not suffer in lack of budget this time,” claimed Poudel, adding that all the other ministries have also been asked to allocate some amount for the literacy campaign. Similarly, the policy on including project work for grade 9 and 10 students is also on the last stage of finalization in the ministry as per which each student would receive 10 marks in their exam for making five people literate, he added. So far some districts of Tarai have failed to launch the literacy program and the center is prepared to take the allocated amount back from those districts, said the NFEC Director Baburam Poudel. “Dhanusha and Mohattari are among the worst performers and we are all set to withdraw the allocated amount of Rs 10.5 million each,” claimed the NFEC director. Human Development Index depicts that average education standard of Nepalis is till third-grade, the same as Afghanistan. Only 6.2 million of the total population of the country has reached above SLC education.