IN 2010, when the incumbent government announced a National Education Policy, it promised to ensure 100 percent literacy by 2014. But unfortunately, the AL government failed to take up any project to address illiteracy, as admitted by the Primary and Mass Education Minister recently to the media. The Awami League-led government in the last five years could not implement any new project aimed at reducing illiteracy. Consequently, the government is most likely to fail to achieve the MDGs by 2015. A news report on Monday said, the government has yet to come up with a pragmatic plan to drop off illiteracy, though it talks tall to achieve all round sustainable development as a middle-income country by 2021. But the truth is that without removing illiteracy and thereby developing human skills, nothing can contribute to attain the targets of development. More appalling is that the government could not tell the actual literacy rate of the country at present. On the International Literacy Day on September 08, we are obliged to quote the latest data of 2010 by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics that only 59.82 percent of our population was literate in 2010. This year Bangladesh failed to observe the day as per the theme of “Literacy and Sustainable Development” against all these backdrops.
Reports have it that the Bureau of Non-formal Education (BNFE) prepared to launch two mega projects on mass literacy involving around Tk 3,000 crore at the beginning of 2010. But BNFE had to shelve the projects designed to provide basic and skill-based education to people who never enrolled themselves in schools or dropped out due to a stressed economic situation. The government had reportedly designed a Tk 3,000 crore project – Basic Literacy and Continuing Education Project 1 and 2 – to address illiteracy, but failed to find donors. The earlier project to address illiteracy, ‘Total Literacy Movement’, drew widespread allegations of corruption and irregularities which discouraged donors to support such projects. As per news reports, the government is now planning to implement a Tk 452 crore Basic Literacy Project to reach 45 lakh people, between the ages of 15 and 45, by June 2018, by its own funding.
However, all these prove the inability of our government to eradicate illiteracy. According to a BNFE Director, the ruling party leaders set the target in their manifesto without considering factual realities on the ground. Importantly they are never sincere in delivering the promises. Therefore, government apathy, a lack of political commitment and an impractical plan of action to meet the targets have made the illiteracy eradication projects a big failure. For eliminating illiteracy there should be empirical policy priority so that it may match with MDG targets.
