CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY: SEPTEMBER 8

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?