also published in onmanorama and accessed at
In matters of literacy, Kerala
has been at the forefront of growth. We wear our pride, as the first to achieve
hundred percent literacy, on our sleeves. Human Development Indices of the
state, is linked to the level of awareness inherent to literacy.
Literacy, according to UNESCO,
is the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create,
communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with
varying contexts”. It enables individuals to achieve their goals
and enables them to participate in development of their community and society.
National Literacy Mission, considers literacy as “acquiring skills of
reading writing and arithmetic and the ability to apply them to one's day to
day life”, the professed end-state of which, is an individual, who, self-reliant
in the 3R's, aware of causes of deprivation, participates in the process of
development. In effect, literacy should compel citizens to contribute to
development and common good of the society. Higher “literacy” must therefore, lead to, ever increasing individual contributions
towards, making society kind, considerate, just and progressive. Fully literate
Kerala then must resemble “Maha Bali period” actualised. Nothing can be as far
from truth as this hypothesis.
Terrorising road traffic, disrespectful young generation, inhuman crowds
that seek “selfie opportunity” in other’s tragedy, garbage disposed along the
roads, frightening trade unionism, insensitive, inefficient public offices and rising
organised crime are just a few manifestations of the malice afflicting a
society treading a dangerous path. Literacy we boast of, is different from the
one defined by UNESCO and NLM. Our literacy is merely an aggregation of
academic qualifications of the populace with no connect to individual’s contributions
to societal progress. Application of acquired knowledge, especially for the good of others, happens when an individual is educated
and “our literacy” is far removed from education. This is a serious issue and left unaddressed
can create a heartless fragmented society, destined to self-destruct.
Unfortunately, our “education system” divested literacy, of knowledge.
Academic qualification being the visible criteria for job opportunities,
acquisition of degrees by any means has become acceptable. When parents and
teachers collude with children to “somehow” acquire marks, society, subordinates
“means” to “ends”. When bribery becomes, accepted means of acquisition, society
legalises barbarism. When elders, oblivious to truth, selfishly interpret law,
they weaken the foundations of a just society. Where moral studies are relegated
in the curriculum, generations are deprived of moral referencing. Society that
adopts divisive approach for parochial multiplicative dividends, becomes masochistic.
Such a society is nothing but a captain-less, rudderless ship caught up in a
storm on a catastrophic journey into the fathomless depths, how long it stays
afloat, the only uncertainty.
Not everything is yet lost. We are at a critical point in the journey,
where we can still retrieve and course correct. It is time that we focus on
educating our citizens than making them literate. Organisations of all hues,
social, political, religious and others, must now actively pursue education, rather
than literacy as the goal.
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