Illiteracy: The Fount of Problems
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Nelson Mandela
India has always been amid innumerable problems ranging from political to financial and social to cultural. Since time immemorial India has seen a huge section of its population to be unemployed, starved and discriminated against. Though these problems have different causes but one common source that has been highlighted time and again is ILLITERACY. Yes, illiteracy has been behind the immediate cause of most of the problems that we are facing today, be it poverty, unemployment or even the growing population. These reasons make illiteracy a problem of utmost urgency that needs to be checked immediately. History provides enough evidence to suggest that lack of education has been the root cause of our downfall, the British Raj started in India as a result of the illiteracy of the Indians when the British were easily able to use India’s ignorance to their benefit. The people were not able to comprehend the tactics of the British and thus fell prey to years of subjugation, theft and discrimination.
Now the question arises as to what is illiteracy?
Illiteracy has been defined as the inability to read or write or the lack of knowledge in a subject. I would now like to discuss in detail how illiteracy affects people and becomes a source of several problems. As well as affecting illiterate individuals directly and jeopardizing their future, it has a significant impact on society both socially and economically. If we analyse the problems that we as a country are facing at the moment, then we will undoubtedly notice that all these problems are somewhat interconnected. They all have a common source and background. This analysis leads us to the conclusion that these problems can have a common solution as well which is none other than the checking of that one cause that is common to all.
Firstly, I would like to shed some light on the problem of poverty or destitution which has been on the rise. Now there are several causes behind this, one of them being illiteracy. Suppose a person is in search of a job in order to provide for his family. He is an ardent worker but is illiterate. This creates a huge problem for him by limiting the availability of jobs. He will not get a job in a reputed company because he has no adequate qualifications to fit the company’s requirements. This in turn compels him to look for other jobs where him being illiterate will not be a problem such as labour which may or may not be available now. This causes poverty, when people are unable to satiate the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter they are below the poverty line. Secondly, another such problem is the issue of unemployment which again owes its origin in some way to illiteracy. How? By being illiterate a man/woman is not qualified enough to get a job as a result of which a number of women and even men in the villages are unemployed even today. They lack sufficient knowledge that will help them find a suitable job. They are restricted to farming, cattle rearing, small scale industries and manual labour. Illiteracy thus leads to unemployment which further leads to poverty.
Perhaps one of the most important problem is the ever-growing population. People in the villages today are still uneducated and hence unaware of the pros of having small families. They do not know about the contraceptives and other medical procedures related to family planning, as a result of which India’s population goes on rising. The more the population, more is the unemployment and more poverty. Thus, there is a chain link between these issues. Illiteracy, rising population, unemployment and poverty are interconnected and inter-related. The solution of one will help greatly in solving the others.
Illiteracy has other negative effects as well, we have all heard of the saying than an educated person is an informed person. Those who are illiterate are also not aware of the events that are happening around the world. They do not understand what is written in the newspapers, cannot comprehend the headlines on televisions, etc. As a result of ignorance, they fall prey to discrimination and other malpractices, they are forced to abide by the opinion of someone they idolize. For instance, politicians at the time of elections unjustly win the votes of voters by taking advantage of their illiteracy. There have been numerous cases reporting that women and men were told to press the icon of a political party during elections without even reading the party it belonged to. Uneducated people identify to leaders and not parties and their respective policies, all that matters to them is the person whom they know and want to elect irrespective of whether he/she has done anything in public service or not. This leads to the election of incompetent candidates to the legislative assemblies.
Literacy also broadens the perspective of people and gives them a wider approach. In India many people still fall prey to meaningless superstitions by being ignorant. They fail to find logic in them because of their illiteracy. Blind faith in customs and superstitious practices is very common in India and can only be checked if well informed people take up the task of teaching others to find logic in things and questioning them rather than following them blatantly. According to surveys thousands of girls are killed before or after childbirth because of the mere belief that girls are a burden on the father. This will not happen to such an extent if people can be taught to have a broader perspective.
If people are educated, they can prevent themselves from being subjugated by others while at the same time find a job that helps them to fulfill the needs of their families. They can contribute to the growth and development of their nation and can thus help in ending this loop of problems that starts with illiteracy. We should all pledge to strive hard for promoting literacy in our country to ensure a better future for India. A country’s progress is not the result of a single man’s efforts, it is achieved when the whole nation walks together on the path of success and welfare.
As someone has rightly remarked, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Raj Lakshmi Singh
Creative Team Ray Foundation
Nelson Mandela
India has always been amid innumerable problems ranging from political to financial and social to cultural. Since time immemorial India has seen a huge section of its population to be unemployed, starved and discriminated against. Though these problems have different causes but one common source that has been highlighted time and again is ILLITERACY. Yes, illiteracy has been behind the immediate cause of most of the problems that we are facing today, be it poverty, unemployment or even the growing population. These reasons make illiteracy a problem of utmost urgency that needs to be checked immediately. History provides enough evidence to suggest that lack of education has been the root cause of our downfall, the British Raj started in India as a result of the illiteracy of the Indians when the British were easily able to use India’s ignorance to their benefit. The people were not able to comprehend the tactics of the British and thus fell prey to years of subjugation, theft and discrimination.
Now the question arises as to what is illiteracy?
Illiteracy has been defined as the inability to read or write or the lack of knowledge in a subject. I would now like to discuss in detail how illiteracy affects people and becomes a source of several problems. As well as affecting illiterate individuals directly and jeopardizing their future, it has a significant impact on society both socially and economically. If we analyse the problems that we as a country are facing at the moment, then we will undoubtedly notice that all these problems are somewhat interconnected. They all have a common source and background. This analysis leads us to the conclusion that these problems can have a common solution as well which is none other than the checking of that one cause that is common to all.
Firstly, I would like to shed some light on the problem of poverty or destitution which has been on the rise. Now there are several causes behind this, one of them being illiteracy. Suppose a person is in search of a job in order to provide for his family. He is an ardent worker but is illiterate. This creates a huge problem for him by limiting the availability of jobs. He will not get a job in a reputed company because he has no adequate qualifications to fit the company’s requirements. This in turn compels him to look for other jobs where him being illiterate will not be a problem such as labour which may or may not be available now. This causes poverty, when people are unable to satiate the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter they are below the poverty line. Secondly, another such problem is the issue of unemployment which again owes its origin in some way to illiteracy. How? By being illiterate a man/woman is not qualified enough to get a job as a result of which a number of women and even men in the villages are unemployed even today. They lack sufficient knowledge that will help them find a suitable job. They are restricted to farming, cattle rearing, small scale industries and manual labour. Illiteracy thus leads to unemployment which further leads to poverty.
Perhaps one of the most important problem is the ever-growing population. People in the villages today are still uneducated and hence unaware of the pros of having small families. They do not know about the contraceptives and other medical procedures related to family planning, as a result of which India’s population goes on rising. The more the population, more is the unemployment and more poverty. Thus, there is a chain link between these issues. Illiteracy, rising population, unemployment and poverty are interconnected and inter-related. The solution of one will help greatly in solving the others.
Illiteracy has other negative effects as well, we have all heard of the saying than an educated person is an informed person. Those who are illiterate are also not aware of the events that are happening around the world. They do not understand what is written in the newspapers, cannot comprehend the headlines on televisions, etc. As a result of ignorance, they fall prey to discrimination and other malpractices, they are forced to abide by the opinion of someone they idolize. For instance, politicians at the time of elections unjustly win the votes of voters by taking advantage of their illiteracy. There have been numerous cases reporting that women and men were told to press the icon of a political party during elections without even reading the party it belonged to. Uneducated people identify to leaders and not parties and their respective policies, all that matters to them is the person whom they know and want to elect irrespective of whether he/she has done anything in public service or not. This leads to the election of incompetent candidates to the legislative assemblies.
Literacy also broadens the perspective of people and gives them a wider approach. In India many people still fall prey to meaningless superstitions by being ignorant. They fail to find logic in them because of their illiteracy. Blind faith in customs and superstitious practices is very common in India and can only be checked if well informed people take up the task of teaching others to find logic in things and questioning them rather than following them blatantly. According to surveys thousands of girls are killed before or after childbirth because of the mere belief that girls are a burden on the father. This will not happen to such an extent if people can be taught to have a broader perspective.
If people are educated, they can prevent themselves from being subjugated by others while at the same time find a job that helps them to fulfill the needs of their families. They can contribute to the growth and development of their nation and can thus help in ending this loop of problems that starts with illiteracy. We should all pledge to strive hard for promoting literacy in our country to ensure a better future for India. A country’s progress is not the result of a single man’s efforts, it is achieved when the whole nation walks together on the path of success and welfare.
As someone has rightly remarked, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Raj Lakshmi Singh
Creative Team Ray Foundation
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