MARICEL B.

UBALDO
Reaction Paper
Effective Practices in Reading

READING THE PAST, WRITING THE FUTURE: A Report on National Literacy Campaign and
Literate Nepal Mission

It is realized that the societies with higher percentage of literates have higher levels of
development (Das & Sahoo, 2012). Literacy and development has its significant relationship. Every
country wants their people to be literate and contributes to the socio-economic status progress.
Therefore, a government should be able to have a literacy programs or projects that will eradicate
illiterates in both men and women. The wider dimension of literacy starts from individual to the whole
country. Realizing the importance of literacy among people, Nepal is one of the countries that open the
door for everyone to learn and be educated. Nepal has been facing many challenges in meeting the
growing demand for an educated, skilled and competitive work force, particularly in ensuring equitable
access to good quality education, universal primary/basic education and literacy for all, which would
contribute to meet the goals of sustained economic growth and poverty reduction.

Nepal had targeted to increase the literacy rate along with educational attainment of the people
in each periodic plan only after the inception of democracy in 1951 in the country. In this short period of
educational history, Nepal has made significant progress in literacy achievement but it is yet far to
achieve its targets. Considering the efforts, this country had realized the importance of educating each
person for the progress of the country. The recent “Literate Nepal Campaign” initiated by MOE is an
important step to eradicate illiteracy from the Country. According to the latest Annual Households
Survey (AHS) 2014/15, the overall adult literacy rate of 15 years and above population is 63.7 percent,
with wide variations between gender (male and female), location (urban and rural) and income (the
poorest and the richest consumption quintiles). The survey revealed that the rates for adult males and
females are 76.2 percent and 53.3 percent respectively. Correspondingly, the adult literacy rates for
urban and rural areas are 74.4 percent (males 84.6% and females 65.5%) and 58.6 percent (males 72.1%
and females 47.8%). Similarly, the variation between the poorest consumption quintiles with adult
literacy rates at 41.6 percent (males 55.2% and females 30.2%) and the richest consumption quintiles at
83.3 percent (males 92.9% and females 74.2%). Therefore as seen in this survey, males are more literate
than females and this is the reason behind that they wanted to have an equal opportunities for both
genders.

Realizing the importance of literacy in national productivity improvement and as a means of

human right, Nepal emphasized literacy development strategies such as the National Literacy Campaign
(NLC) and the Literate Nepal Mission (LINEM) in order to create literate environment. Through NLC and
LINEM, Nepal has been committed in improving and expanding the reach of every individual, especially
women and the disadvantaged to literacy. However, the disadvantaged in the context of Nepal signify
women, persons with all sorts of disabilities, disadvantaged castes and ethnic groups, the poorest,
people residing in remote, rural areas. These strategies will enhance the abilities and skills especially to
women who have less percentage of literacy. This is where we can conclude that Nepal have its own
intervention to cater the weakness of the people. One of the most significant points of literacy
development in Nepal is about basic foundation knowledge that is an important capability required for
lifelong learning theme. But we need to consider that quite a large percentage of our population still
have great difficulties in reading, writing and arithmetic. How to develop those basic foundational
knowledge and skills which are needed to progress in learning along with social skills which are
extremely important for further life is a challenge in the Nepalese context. Similarly, the new
information and communication technologies that are becoming almost as important as writing in the
learning process and in the work place are to be considered as basic skills.

Although the government of Nepal emphasized on literacy development since the beginning of
democracy in 1951, there appears to be a slow growth prior to reinstating democracy in 1991. However,
it is evident from the data below that Nepal could not achieve universal literacy even after more than 63
years of its efforts between 1952 and 2015. Over the period, literacy rates increased from 5% in
1952/54 to 66% in 2015, scoring around one percentage point growth rate per annum. It proves that
despite of all the necessary strategies to eradicate illiteracy, it may not be enough and still need more
acceptable and reliable ways to improve both males and females equally. However the purpose and
cooperation of government is there, the people himself should realize the importance of literacy to their
lives.

There are three main reasons why Nepal despite of the efforts is not working effectively. First,
there is a lack of desired level of continuous national commitment reflected by an appropriate level of
budget; inconsistency in the program, inability to develop a system of recognizing prior learning, and
narrowly defined and understood literacy. Second, huge, nationally owned literacy campaigns and
programs emerged after the Dakar Framework for Action (DFA) for EFA in the 2000s, but adequate
coordination and capacity had not been sufficient to make visible impacts. This is also true with regard
to promoting vital attempts to introduce mother tongue as a medium of instruction in adult literacy
programs. Third, it appears that sufficient favorable conditions need to increase the demand for literacy
among individuals, especially the disadvantaged to effectively link the literacy programs to their life,
works and occupations, contributing to earning and living. Finally, literacy development should have
been connected to alternate pathways for mobility, which could attract learners and engage them in
lifelong learning.