At the call of the United Nations, we are celebrating September 8 as International Literacy Day every year. This year, the 56th International Literacy Day is about to be celebrated with the theme "Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces".
Education is the cornerstone of quality life. Acknowledging the multifaceted importance of education, our constitution has guaranteed education as a fundamental right. Education, which is regarded as the cornerstone of the country's economic, social, cultural, administrative, and physical infrastructure development, has been accepted worldwide as an important means of increasing the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for human life. The government is implementing various programs to ensure easy access for all citizens from the basic level to higher education while improving the quality of education. Despite the various efforts of the government, private sector, and social organizations, one-third of the people are still illiterate, so we need to continue the literacy campaign more effectively in the future.
Our main responsibility today is to make all the illiterate Nepalis literate by effectively advancing the Literate Nepal Campaign to achieve the educational goals set at the international level. It is necessary for all of us to cooperate, cooperate and coordinate efforts to declare all the districts of the country as literate as soon as possible by conducting the Literate Nepal Campaign effectively. In order to make education accessible to the general public, on the one hand, the community education system should be promoted effectively, while on the other hand, there is a need to promote quality, useful, professional, and technical education, and to produce the manpower required for the overall development of the country within the country.
By promoting innovation and self-employment through education, it is necessary to reduce the number of educational unemployed and advance education in a way that is useful and helpful for the all-round development of the nation, society, and individual.
In terms of the fact that the covid-19 epidemic has taught us that we should continue learning through alternative management, it is seen that we need to make more efforts to achieve the educational goals under sustainable development through various alternative means.
For the economic and social transformation of the country, the development of human resources is a necessary condition, while education is its foundation. It is well-known that the government of Nepal has been conducting various programs for achieving the goals of economic and social development through education for a long time.
Along with formal education, education programs are focused on eliminating illiteracy through open, informal, continuous, and skill-based education and preparing economically independent, socially responsible, personally competent, and ethical citizens. The policies and programs of the Government of Nepal are being implemented in order to implement the Constitution of Nepal and fulfill the commitments made in the international forum.
Since it is not possible to reach the set goal with a single effort, there is a need for joint efforts of all three levels of government, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and organizations. Due to the cooperation of all parties in the Literate Nepal Campaign, 61 districts have been made literate so far.
Literacy does not mean merely cracking simple letters, it is the basis of continuous education and education can be considered as the only gateway to access the world of knowledge for the entire mankind. Education can also be regarded as a glorious pre-condition for fulfilling responsibilities as a strong and capable citizen.
Also, education is the cornerstone of acquiring useful life skills necessary for quality living and developing as economically, socially and morally competent people.
Keeping these facts in mind, the government of Nepal has been conducting literacy programs for a long time and is continuing its efforts to eradicate illiteracy and it is well known that the Literate Nepal Program has been launched as a campaign. The success of the Literate Nepal Program is not possible with the efforts of the government alone. We can reach our goal only through the coordination and cooperation of the union, state, and local levels.
With our past efforts and experience, we agreed to make this program more effective, and the campaign to make every district literate during Sakar Nepal has gained momentum.
Programs organized on the occasion of International Literacy Day:
- To publish educational souvenirs including writing various articles related to education.
- On the occasion of International Literacy Day, 2079 Bhadra 23, publishing literacy special issue 2079 including various activities related to literacy and greetings.
- Conducting talk shows, seminars, and interactive programs through mass media.
- To produce and develop literacy-related documentaries, jingles, etc.
- Plantation, plant protection, and office cleaning in Education and Human Resource Development Center.
- Develop materials with indicators of literacy and make arrangements for distribution to districts and local levels that are yet to be declared literate.
- Filming and broadcasting nationally a folk repetition program on literacy, continuing education, and lifelong learning.
- Distributing awards and certificates to the districts that have been declared literate.
- Coordinate and facilitate meetings with associations/organizations working in the field of literacy to support the declaration of literate local level and literate district.
- To conduct meetings and interaction programs with journalists to inform them about the programs on the occasion of International Literacy Day.
- Requesting provincial, district, and local levels to conduct International Literacy Day programs.
- Coordinating, collaborating, and facilitating the declaration of literate local levels and literate districts on the occasion of Literacy Day.
- International Literacy Day will be celebrated by conducting a formal program on the premises of the Education and Human Resource Development Center on August 23, 2079.
This year's programs under the Literate Nepal Campaign Program:
- In order to declare the rest of the local levels and districts as literate, the action plan has been taken forward by making them prepare a letter of introduction based on cost sharing.
- There is an orientation program with stakeholders at the district and local level yet to be declared literate. There are learning materials that include the 12 indicators of literacy.
- The program was carried forward by mobilizing students and making families and communities literate.
