My mother, four and half decades back, was amongst the miniscule percentage of educated adults in India. Today, if you are reading this newsletter then you are amongst the 33 per cent of Indians who have had the privilege of learning how to read and write (in English). If this newsletter were in Hindi or any of the vernacular languages of India, you would still be amongst only 78 per cent of the privileged from the total Indian adult population and if you are a woman, then you are amongst the 65 per cent of adult Indian women who can read and write in any language, that is, possess basic literacy skills.

Not only would you be one amongst the lucky few who have access to the written knowledge, but those who are on a journey / pathway to empowerment. You are less likely to be cheated by unscrupulous moneylenders or powers to be in your village, you are more likely to demand your rights and access your entitlements from the public sector, and definitely more likely to value education for your children, helping shape a happy and sustainable family, society and nation.

Illiteracy – a cause and contributor of poverty – is a bane of developing countries across the world. The literacy of adult women not only the ability to read and write but to also do basic math, is an indicator of progress. ‘When you educate a girl, you educate a family. When you educate a family, you educate a nation. Despite this, millions of girls worldwide are denied this basic human right. In India, where poverty is widespread, fewer than 2 out of 5 women can read or write and 40 per cent of girls under the age of 14 do not go to school. They are expected to drop their studies to prepare for marriage, help with household chores and work in the fields’ (The UN Works Website). It is and irony that in a land where education, arts and indeed the written word are the domain of Saraswati the goddess of learning, over 30 per cent of living goddesses are deprived of this boon and basic right.

Adult literacy under the National Literacy Mission has made significant strides over the past three decades and the rate of literacy in India has steadily increased. A promising program that effectively uses science of phonetics and visual recall and IT technology to bring the joys of reading, writing and numeracy to adult women is the TARA Akshar programme launched by the Development Alternatives Group. The systematic delivery and extreme simplicity of the program belie its complex development process. The success rates above 98 per cent regularly since its launch in 2005 has enabled its reach to over 1 million women across the Hindi belt of India.

Many adult literacy programmes design components for continuation of the newfound skills but none of these are institutionalised along the lines of school education is so that adults too can continue to strengthen their newfound capacities.

Can the family not provide this support? The RTE has brought in some sense of hope for ensuring education for all up to the age of 14 years. Many public schools are, however, trying to grapple with 25 per cent reservation of children from homes that are economically backward from families that have never learnt how to read and write. Can we not include the illiterate mothers from these families in an adult literacy campaign – bringing mother and child into a mutually reinforcing learning environment at home as in school? Literate, educated mothers will be able to work with schools and institutions to foster education, health and prosperity amongst their children and families.

With our hearts full of optimism and heads with new ideas, we need to work together – civil society, educational institutions, governments and private sector – to design and implement ways to ensure that our mothers, sisters and daughters have at their disposal the tools and capacities that truly empower them and create well being for all. And then many more like me will experience the joys of the written word from their mothers at home. q