CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY: SEPTEMBER 8
Literacy is much more than an educational priority – it is the
ultimate investment in the future and the first step towards all the new
forms of literacy required in the twenty-first century. We wish to see a
century where every child is able to read and to use this skill to gain
autonomy.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General
"Go to people.Learn from them.Live with them. Love them. Start with what
they know. Build with what they have. But the best of leaders when the
job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will all say we
have done it ourselves." ( Lao Tsu in 604 B.C. -Quoted by Myles Horton
and Paulo Freire in the book WE MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING )
Dear Friends,
Greetings from the SRC(Agragamee) Rayagada!
On Sept 8, 2013, the International Literacy Day will be celebrated all
over the world. As SRC, our staff and educationists who support us have
gone to Delhi. We are celebrating local events at Kashipur and at
Koraput. We wish we have the ability to celebrate it in every village
and every Gram Panchayat and, above all, every district. I am sure the
Government of Odisha must be doing that through the State Literacy
Mission Authority (SLMA).
We all have been involved with the
Total Literacy Campaign for many years but we are also aware that the
percentage of illiteracy and especially Female Illiteracy remain quite
high in some pockets. This has been analysed in the findings of Census
2011. The Government, therefore, has launched Saakshar Bharat Programme
in selected districts of the country. In Odisha we have 19 such
districts and SRC(Agragamee) Rayagada has been entrusted with 11
districts. We are trying to reach out to the communities, PRIs, Civil
Societies, the Administration, the Media and the Intellectual. Academics
requesting them to help us in achieving our goal to make every one
literate. I do request all our friends to get involved in the Literacy
Campaign and make serious efforts to make everyone literate. You will
agree with me that making literate is not the only responsibility of the
Government. It is a collective responsibility.
The aims of
Literacy, as you know, are for life-long learning, for empowerment and
for social change. The only way to improve the quality of life, for good
governance, for livelihood security and for making every one the equal
citizen of this country is by achieving Total Literacy. The is the way
to strengthen our democracy in all dimensions.
I request you
to take a minute off and visualise your role and responsibilities to
join the literacy campaign in our state and in the country. Lets us
build a formidable alliance I am sure of your positive response. Am I
not?
