GOOD DAYS AHEAD

Though it is no laughing matter, I couldn’t help but smile on reading your recent editorial (‘Going for gold,’ September 2) that backs the government’s statistics. Many people will be happy to just read the morning sensational headlines that states: ‘Nepal is 95 percent literate’. However, it is important to look carefully and with a fair amount of scepticism at the data produced by government surveyors. According to Unicef, youth (15-24 years) literacy rate between 2008-2012 for males and females was above 75 percent. So it comes as no surprise that the literacy rate among the youth is higher. However, the literacy rate among the entire population should be viewed with a pinch of salt.

I am no enemy of Nepal being a fully literate society. It is a good thing for society and the nation as a whole. But I am not sure how literacy is defined and in what context. Are we simply defining it by the number of educated people from a certain age? Or are we defining it by the simple tasks people perform on a daily basis, like visiting hospitals, filling out official forms, writing cheques etc? In the latter case, it is not astounding that people are literate. The government should be applauded for promoting national literacy programmes targeting illiterate and semi-literate people from disadvantaged groups.

Santosh Kalwar, via email

Published: The Kathmandu Post

Posted on: 2014-09-05 09:40