World literacy Day, 8th of September, 2014

Mrs. Veena Kohli on World Literacy Day
President, All India Women Conference
International Literacy day is celebrated all over the world every year on September 8. The theme for year 1914 is ‘Literacy and Sustainable Development’. This day is “an opportunity to remember a simple truth: literacy not only changes life, it saves them”, says Irina Bokowa, the Director general of UNESCO, in her message for the day.

The global figures stand at 781 million illiterate upto the age of 15 and 126 million in the age group of 16 to 21. The highest illiterate adults are in India i.e. 286 million, which is four times more than the population of France.

The Government of India has introduced many schemes to achieve the target of ‘education for all’. It has allocated funds for education, introduced the ‘Education-cess’. But in spite of so much effort, India remain one of the most illiterate nation of the world. Illiteracy is one of the reason why many of its development plans suffer the same fate. Perhaps it is the high time when we must start looking at the growth rate of the population as no development can be sustainable in a country which has a runaway population growth.

Just teaching people to read and write is not enough, they need a holistic approach through education which empowers them with the ability and knowledge needed to manage their own lives. When girls receive education, they marry later, have smaller and healthier families, gain skill needed to start a working life and become financially independent. They can take better care of the health of theirs and their families. They become aware of their rights and gain confidence to insist on them.

The ripple effect of education for girls is si far reaching that former UN Secretary General and Nobel Prize –winner Kofi Annan called it the single most effective tool for development.

World Literacy Day is very significant for AIWC. AIWC has contributed a lot in empowering the underprivileged women. Even today, along with its branches, its literacy programmers are combined with skill programs to give the beneficiaries some sustainable livelihood.

Right from its inception in 1927, its mission has been literacy/education and training for women and its focus has always been to provide women a platform to come together, find out solutions for their problems, to bring about awareness among their fellow sisters and fight for their rights, so that they can live with dignity and honor in the society.

It main aim has always been empowerment of women through literacy, health-care, capacity- building/employment generating + skill-based training, and economic independence, especially of the disadvantaged sections of society. Its more than 500 branches run centers/schools for spreading education and awareness amongst underprivileged/poor/street children and adults, living either in rural areas or urban slums. In the process it enables underprivileged them to join the mainstream of the society.