Manipur celebrates 51st International Literacy Day

First to concentrate on basic education: Y. Joykumar Singh

IMPHAL | Sept 8 (DIPR)

51st International Literacy Day, the day to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies was celebrated today. State level celebration jointly organised by department of adult education and State Literacy Mission Authority was held at GM Hall in Imphal.

Speaking on the occasion, deputy chief minister YumnamJoykumar Singh said imparting basic education to the illiterates is the first and foremost step to bring down the rate of illiteracy in the state.

He said to educate is to infuse rationale thinking which will be the basic parametre of human development. Therefore, at least imparting basic education i.e. reading, writing and basic arithmetic operations to those who are illiterate should be made possible.

He further said, with the fastest growing technological development, the world is becoming a global village. But, for those who are illiterates, it is almost the same as that of olden days. They cannot contribute even to their families rather than the society.

Reiterating the fact that government alone cannot educate the illiterate people Joykumar said to eradicate illiteracy every literate individual should volunteer himself with a determination to teach illiterates around.

He said there have been a number of literacy programmes in the country. Many Adult Education Centre (AECs) have been opened in Chandel, Senapati, Tamenglong and Thoubal districts where besides imparting basic education, skill development programmes were also introduced.

He also mentioned the need to minimize school dropout rate to the lowest so that maximum students can get the benefit of learning.

Education minister Th. Radheshyam Singh while speaking at the function said, although the state has a comparatively higher literacy rate than the other North Eastern states except Mizoram, it has to go further to improve the rate.

He said, efforts are being made under Total Literacy Campaign and other centrally sponsored literacy programmes. Every household has at least a literate individual and therefore, it is the responsibility of the individual to teach those illiterates around them so that the movement to remove illiteracy can be made a success. He appealed to endeavour to teach whoever illiterate in any field to make a totally literate state.

Deputy chief minister distributed Jan Shiksha Santan award to the representatives of District Literacy Societies of Senapati and Thoubal districts.

Altogether, 40 volunteer teachers (VT) and successful learners were also awarded in the function. Additional chief secretary (Adult Education) Dr. Suhel Akhtar, B. Laltanpuia, director, State Resource Centre (SRC) North- Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, teachers and students from various schools participated among others in the function.