The hunt for non-literate Goans has been flagged off by the Goa government in municipalities and Village Panchayats. There is a hurry to declare Goa as a 100% literate State under the New India Literacy Program (NILP) by 19th December 2024. In its haste to meet the deadline, the government has limited its literacy goal to only ‘read and write’ which renders this mission out-dated, just like many of Goa’s planning laws and policies which are wreaking havoc in the State.
The 5-year national literacy mission 2022-2027 seeks to target 5-crore non-literates across the country in the age group of 15 years and above. The 5 components of the program involves foundational literacy and numeration, critical life skills, basic education, vocational skills and continuing education, besides encouraging formation of SHGs, voluntary and user groups and other community based organisations. This is nothing more than the literacy goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations which is marketed with a ‘desi’ label of ‘New India’.
The concept of literacy as spelt out in one module released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for the Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) states that, “Literacy is a tool for communication, participation, liberation, conscientization and empowerment of every individual. It liberates us from the confines of vanity and prejudice, ignorance and fads and directs our creative energies to flow unencumbered towards a search for and the discovery of the true meaning of our existence. Literacy enables people to overcome the handicaps of their atomized existence and enter the wider world of information, communication, innovation, modernization and skills.”
Given the government’s track record on earlier missions like the ‘Open Defecation Free’ and ‘Har Ghar Jal’, how serious is the government in promoting literacy and education? Or, is this literacy target another of those ‘jumlas’, more about grabbing a share from the Union Government’s financial outlay of Rs.1037.90 crore to squander on namesake events?
The overall economic policies of the Goa government do not seem to match with its claim of promoting literacy and education. A State economy increasingly dependent on importing rowdyism and perversity to generate revenue is no conducive environment for learning. The emerging New Goa Paradise of Vices can only act as an antidote to literacy and education. A mind-set that takes pride in delivering bulldozer justice and a bully culture which lacks respect and concern for the dignity of the human person cannot be tamed by literacy and education.
In the last one decade, all literacy and education in Goa seems to be going down the drain with brain washing. The literacy and education now seen in the government’s rhetoric is nothing more than the ability to differentiate Muslim from Hindu, Beef from Mutton and Masjid from Temple.
It is disgusting to hear an executive head of state attributing the rise in Muslim population to a brain drain resulting from a decline in Christian population. The situation is more like what the American lawyer and politician Newton D. Baker said, “the man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.”
What is striking in the NILP is the mention of the ‘critical life skills’ component in abolishing illiteracy. In an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world of this 21st century, how many of the already so-claimed literate and educated possess the essential life skills of creativity and critical thinking, along with personal and social responsibility which are all essential for good citizenship in a democracy?
Goa’s rise in literacy rate from 23.48% pre-liberation to 88.70% as per the 2011 census is definitely commendable. There is no doubt that an enormous amount of financial resources have been invested in providing accessible schooling even in the most remote corners of the State by successive governments, if one is to keep aside the issue of quality education. The improvement in rural-urban connectivity along with technology inputs has aided this growth in literacy. But, is this literacy growth reflected in the quality of life as of today? Has it contributed to the emergence of visionary political leadership and responsible citizenship?
The limitations in Goa’s 88.70% literacy and education in this 21st century is there for all to see in the dance of illiteracy and idiocy which is on naked and shameless display on Goa’s roads and in the streets. The quality of political leadership which is thrown up time and again in elections driven by petty caste and religious considerations, and not forgetting the plight of the University, shows that literacy and education have hardly contributed to the overall social and political empowerment of the people. The poor standard of deliberations in Gram Sabhas where muscle overpowers reason and the lack of basic skills with chairpersons to conduct such meetings are proof enough of the level of illiteracy, if one is to evaluate the situation within the framework of 21st century literacy goals.
The questioning spirit and rational reasoning are terribly missing in Goan culture. Even drawing attention to irrational beliefs or harmful traditions becomes offensive and hurting to religious, caste or patriotic sentiments. The blindness from a literate and educated idiocy empowered by technology thrives on fake news, sensationalism and reactionary outbursts. The care-a-damn attitude of citizens for the inconvenience they cause to others in public places, or the absence of fear of law and a false sense of entitlement from being socially and economically well-off, is definitely not reflective of a literate and educated society.
A famous quote of the American writer and futurist Alvin Tofler reads, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
(The author has worked with community initiatives related to Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention, HIV/AIDs Prevention, Panchayati Raj, Anti-Corruption, Environment Protection and Social Justice.)