Importance of Adult Education

“Let us do something really great

Educate the adults illiterate”

Take a newspaper of a language which you can read. Read out the headlines. Easy? Now take a newspaper of a language you don’t understand at all. Try to read the headlines. Tough? Now try to write in that language. Impossible? How do you feel? Helpless? Possibly exasperated? Imagine the condition of the 775 million adults who have no idea how to read and write, in any language.

Adult illiteracy is one of the major problems in the developing countries. The major cause of this problem is poverty. Parents are not able to give proper education to their children, due to unavailability of money. Also, these parents might not know the long term benefits of investment in their children’s education. Though there might be schools providing education at very low costs, parents, instead of sending their children to school, force them to earn money for the family. These children grow up to become uneducated adults. So, lack of awareness is another cause of adult illiteracy.

The effects of adult illiteracy are drastic. People generally look down upon such illiterate people, and discriminate against them. When discriminated against, these people hide their faces. They are afraid to step out in public. Their self-respect and self-esteem gets completely destroyed. As they have no qualifications at all, they do ill-paid jobs like working at construction sites and working as domestic servants. And even while doing these jobs, they aren’t able to count their money. They couldn’t sign any official paper. So, they can be easily manipulated by others. The ultimate result of all this is poverty. So, poverty is both the cause and effect of adult illiteracy. These illiterate adults might have the potential to do great things in life, but illiteracy holds them down. They have to depend upon others for knowing the headlines of the newspaper, for writing a letter, for knowing the story of a magazine, and what not? They could never be independent.

This problem of adult illiteracy has a very simple solution. Each one of us should teach at least one adult in our life. 17% of the adult population of the world is uneducated. So if each person in his/her life sets a target of teaching one adult how to read and write, in any language they like, adult illiteracy would become a thing of the past. Today many organisations are working for adult literacy. Evening and night classes are held for adults. Illiterate adults should not be afraid to ask anyone to teach them. We can also try to spread awareness about the value of education. After all, education is the basic right of each and every person living on this planet!

“Eradicate illiteracy, let us all say

We’ll educate all, come what may!”

-         Manas Trivedi