1. Harsh Shrivastava’s talking points on the conference in literacy
1) Adult literacy is even more important—because it improves the economic and social
lives of millions of people—and their families—today, rather than twelve years later
after children pass out of school. Glad that the A in your TEACH is for this.
2) Education for children has been given a lot of focus—many schemes, organizations
are attacking education. Not enough is being done in adult literacy, despite a
Directorate of Adult Education in 1956; NLM in 1988. That’s why India’s adult literacy
rate is 74 percent; world average is 84 percent; Myanmar is 90 percent.
3) Making adults literate is not just about reading and writing letters and a language. In
my view we need to make all adults in our country literate across the all following
areas:
a. Financial literacy: understanding how to operate a bank account; whole-life
insurance; pensions, etc.
b. Legal literacy: what can the police do or not do to you; what are your rights as a
citizen;
c. Government literacy: what government schemes are relevant to you, and more
importantly, how do you access them?
d. Digital literacy: going beyond the mobile phone. Using the net productively.
e. Health literacy: preventive health and nutrition—studies show that the poor eat
unhealthily.
f. Economic literacy: demand, supply, productivity, inflation
g. Business literacy: profit, loss, competition, relevant regulation (street vendors,
rickshaw pullers, etc.)
h. Literacy of the rest of our large, complex nation: across states; across religions;
across communities.
4) Solving this problem requires action in both the supply and the demand sides.
5) Increase supply of literacy centers where local non-literate adults (maids,
shopkeepers, laborers, etc.) can drop in for literacy classes (and a cup of tea). Jan
Shiksha Santhans of the government—Rotarians can adopt one.
6) Increase the demand, by giving all eligible adults a voucher that they can redeem
against any follow-on training that they may want.
7) Use technology like apps on phones and tablets to teach these elements of literacy
8) Wipe out functional adult illiteracy by 2020—100 years after the Rotary Club came to
India. If 200 million more Indians become functionally literate, I think GDP growth
rate will also increase by up to 1 percent more a year.
9) Thus, investing in adult literacy has the highest immediate returns. It will also reduce
the widening inequality in our country between those who’re educated; and those
who aren’t.