There is a saying that knowledge is power.  In the present scenario, it is quite obvious that if India wants to be reckoned as a player of some consequence in the world, it cannot stand a chance unless and until its citizens are educated and knowledgeable.  India, the largest democracy in the world, is still far behind the threshold level of 75% of literacy rate.  To be specific, India has 35% of the world's total illiterates and has been ranked 105^th in the Global Monitoring Report (GMR), 2008.

The Right to Education is a fundamental human right and the Constitution of India advocates for free and compulsory education for children below the age of 14.  So, why is the situation so grim and we haven’t been able to eradicate illiteracy from India?  Where do our governments and policy makers go wrong?  No doubt, India has made major strides in combating illiteracy since independence, but the actual number of uneducated people has not fallen as deemed.

Literacy is a reasonably good indicator of development of a society, and if India has to march on the path of progress it has to wage its battle against illiteracy with much more vigour and piquancy.  According to a recent census, merely two-third of the Indians fall under the category of being called literates, and adding to that woe, a large chunk of the section doesn’t have education that would be deemed as significant in quality.

In India, we have an obsolete and incompetent system of education that banks on preparing quantity and not quality, and even the quantity is not up to the expectations.  The huge amount of money spent by the government is simply wasted in a system that is ill equipped to achieve a higher dream of literate India.  The government is surely taking strides towards eradicating illiteracy, but with the current pace it is expected to take almost a decade or two to reach the minimum desired level.

It has been twenty years when the National Literacy Mission (NLM) came into existence with all fanfare and dreams of rejuvenating Indian education scenario, but the mission is still far from meeting its objective.  The mission was launched on May 5, 1988, with a target of attaining 75 percent literacy by the year 2007 but it is almost 10 percent short of the target and has been even unable to bridge the gender literacy gap.

The gender literacy gap continues to be a matter of concern in India, as this gap is unacceptably high.  This divide is a little better in urban India but the rural areas need to be dealt with much more urgency and motivation.  Women's literacy and education has to be made a priority, as it has been proved that the society where the women are literate has an improved quality of life.  If we make our women folks literate, they will be self-reliant and the beneficial impact on society is bound to be manifold.

India has the largest number of illiterates in the world, two-thirds of whom are girls.  In a recent report released by UNESCO, India is among the bottom five countries in South and West Asia when it comes to female literacy with 47.8 percent sitting alongside countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Another issue of major concern is regarding the non retention of children in primary and middle schools across India.  This high dropout may be attributed to poor functioning of schools, lack of teaching and learning materials, ineffective teaching, and the cost factor attached to it.  In the last few years, the primary school enrolments have increased significantly, but high costs continue to limit the access to education leading to untimely dropouts.  School enrollment is increasing, but retention and completion rates remain low because of the poor quality of the education system.

Another concern of note is disparity between the urban and rural literacy scenario wherein the situation is quite worse in rural India as compared to those of the cities.  The pace of educational growth has created a huge gulch between the rural and urban India and major social reformation efforts are the need of the hour to overcome such trough which has been prevalent since decades.  Massive urbanization and influence of urbane service sector growth has led to development in cities and towns whereas the rural India still looks upon those cities to get their share in tits and bits.

It can be anybody’s guess that the weapon of literacy is the real mantra for development of a country and to be honest we are deficient in that.  In India, we can gauge this effect in the development of Kerala- a state with maximum (almost 100%) literacy.  Let us make it a point that India can never attain the status of a superpower in real terms unless all its citizens are literate and have an active participation in carving the nation's destiny rather than be aloof due to ignorance.  So long as poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy are there, our task is unaccomplished.