Nepali education experts state that the national campaign to eradicate illiteracy by 2015 will not succeed if the government doesn’t start incorporating it as part of their main agenda.
According to the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS) of the National Bureau of Statistics, the adult literacy rate is 56.6%, of which men account for 71.6% and women account for 44.55%. Other reports indicate that 64% of the general population receives no formal education.
‘Literate Nepal Campaign‘ runs three-month-long courses covering skills such as reading, writing, using mobile phones and calculators, and managing personal finances. The construction of 36,000 learning centers is currently underway.
The campaign launched last February, after being set back multiple times due to delays in allocating the budget. Although the proposed budget was Rs 1.38 billion, the government allocated only Rs 630 million.
Education expert Bidyanath Koirala noted, “They don’t believe in working for no visible returns so the political parties will not work towards the literacy campaign.”
Some educationists suggested that the literacy curriculum should be reformulated to better serve the varied nature of the issues facing the 75 districts and 4,000 Village Development Committees (VDC) of Nepal.
Duttakriya Dahal, section officer of Informal Education (ONIE), stressed the importance of providing government incentives and rewards to those who contribute to the campaign’s development.
“The center, in order to make the literacy campaign a success, has requested that the government give a cash prize of Rs 100,000 and other awards to any community, ward, or individual who works to contribute in the campaign’s success,” said Dahal. “The Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission (NPC) have already agreed. All that is needed now is an approval from the Cabinet.”
Creative Commons Love: guccio@文房具社 on Flickr
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