While the government claims that the total literacy target can be achieved in the next two years, the progress report of the MDG has, however, shown that it is likely to meet only two of the three major indicators pertaining to education.[break]
In its second goal of universal primary education, the net enrollment rate has reached 95.3 percent this year, up from 63 in 2000. Now the government needs to meet cent percent target in the next two years, which seems achievable, said Jagdish Chandra Pokhrel, team leader of the MDG report committee under the National Planning Commission (NPC).
However, achieving the literacy rate of 15-24 years age group seem a far cry as around 12 percent of the youths under this group remain illiterate.
“Given the gap, the literacy rate needs to be reduced by a further 11.4 percent,” states the recently issued MDG progress report. “Unless the current growth rate is increased, Nepal is unlikely to meet its 2015 MDG.”
Of the total population above the age of five, only 65.9 percent are literate. The male literacy rate stands at 75.1 percent while the female literary rate stands at just 57.4 percent. Though there has been consistent progress in literacy, there are great disparities across the social groups, the comprehensive report of all governmental and non-governmental studies show.
At least 4.7 percent of the primary school age children, that is over 0.8 million children, are out of school. Likewise, the dropout rate of 7.7 percent per year is also a major challenge that needs to be addressed by improving the infrastructure of schools and the quality of learning process.
Likewise, the distance between the schools and houses of students is another major factor that is resulting in dropouts in the remote areas of the country.
Non-formal Education Center (NFEC), a government body that is responsible to organize campaigns and programs for literacy, has now integrated the non- formal education with the net enrollment of children at primary level in a bid to meet the MDG targets, according to Baburam Paudel, the NFEC Director.
Lalitpur likely to be first illiteracy free district
In a rush to declare total literacy in Nepal, the government has started declaring the units of local governance as an illiteracy free zone.
Lalitpur has become the first district to announce that 13 out of its 41 VDCs has become free from illiteracy.
Imadol, Jharuwari, Sunakothi, Thecho, Lele, Chapagaun, Dhapakhel, Siddhipur, Sainbu, Lamatar, Lubhu, Bhattedanda and Pyutar are the “illiteracy free” VDCs.
Similarly, 18 of the total 22 wards of the Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City have been declared free of illiteracy.
NFEC Director Paudel said that the units of local governance would be declared illiteracy free zone as more students are to be involved in the three-year long literacy campaign that began from the last fiscal year for the people above 15 years of age.
Similarly, the policy of including project work for grade 9 and 10 students is also being finalized by the ministry as per which each student would receive 10 marks in their exams for making five people ´literate´, he added.
The government offices have also been receiving circulars that all the civil servants take it as their responsibility to educate at least their family members.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) has also forwarded a proposal to the Office of the Prime Minister that the government employees´ promotion also be judged on the basis of their contribution to the literacy targets.
The government has also decided to withdraw the money allocated to the Tarai districts, which have failed to launch the literacy program effectively. Dhanusha and Mohattari are among the worst performers and the government is all set to withdraw Rs10.5 million allotted to each of them, Paudel added.
The Literacy rate of Nepal was merely 2 percent in 1989, which improved to 40 percent in 2007. The number of people being able to read and write increased to 54.3 percent in 2001.
However, the government is being criticized for only 11.8 percent increment despite the fact that Rs 265 billion was invested in between 2001 to 2011 in education. The current literacy rate of the country is 65.9 percent for the total population of 23.9 million of those above the age of five.
The literacy rate is growing at a snail pace of 1.18 percent per year, from 54.1 percent in 2001.
Meanwhile, the NFEC officers claimed that the literacy target will be declared as accomplished even if 95 percent target is met.
“We are declaring a local unit as totally literate after achieving 95 percent target, which is also based on international practice,” said Paudel.
“The elderly people above 80 or 90 years old, the mentally disabled adults and those with serious kinds of disabilities cannot be included in the program due their physical and mental disabilities. But we are spreading awareness that the households of such people should be responsible to make them able to read and write,” he added.
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