Calling for a holistic and development-linked approach to literacy, President Pratibha Patil on Thursday said education was critical for achieving growth in a knowledge-based society.
Inaugurating a three-day international conference on “Women's Literacy for Inclusive and Sustainable Development” organised by UNESCO and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ms. Patil said that without literacy, people were excluded from access to circuits of knowledge and even from the most basic information they may need for daily life.
She said increasing female literacy had the potential of becoming a force multiplier in pushing forward the socio-economic development of the nation. “If we make women literate they will be self-reliant and the beneficial impact on society will be manifold. It has been observed that where women are literate, the rate of infant mortality comes down and the quality of life improves.” According to her, literate women were more aware about diseases and their treatment; with better capability to deal with sickness, they in turn would begin to send their girl child to school, breaking the pattern of social gender discrimination, a strong barrier to girl's education.
“Imparting education to women and girls is important for bringing about social change and for the full development of societies. Efforts must be made to create awareness about literacy. All forms of media, both print and electronic media, should be harnessed for this purpose.”
On the occasion the President gave away the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy and the Saakshar Bharat Literacy Awards. The Saakshar Bharat Literacy Awards include the Satyen Maitra Memorial Literacy Awards, NLM – UNESCO Awards, and the Decadal Literacy Awards.
