World | India
'Women's literacy should be treated as a priority'
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Saturday called for women's literacy and education be treated as a "priority".
- IANS
- Published: 23:14 September 8, 2007
- President Pratibha Patil at a function to celebrate International Literacy Day in New Delhi yesterday.
- Image Credit: Reuters
New Delhi : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil yesterday called for women's literacy and education be treated as a "priority".
Speaking at the International Literacy Day Celebration in the capital, Patil said: "India is home to the world's largest number of illiterates and this is a matter of great concern. India accounts for 20 per cent of the world's out-of-school children and 35 per cent adult illiterates.
"When such a large number of the population remains outside the pale of literacy and education, it makes the task of development more complex and daunting.
"Women's literacy and education has to be made a priority. If we make women literate, they will be self-reliant and the beneficial impact on society will be manifold."
But she hailed India's progress in the last 60 years in the field.
"We have made tremendous progress in literacy in the last century. In 1901, India had an abysmally low literacy rate of 5.35 per cent. At the time of independence literacy had risen to only 18.33 per cent. But in 2001, the literacy rate had risen substantially to 64.84 per cent," she said.
"This is considerable progress, but there are still millions in our country without basic literary skills," Patil added.
The president pointed out that India is home to some of the best engineering and management institutions in the world.
"Every year at least 30 lakh [3 million] graduates and 7 lakh [700,000] post-graduates are added to its knowledge capital. India has one of the largest manpower of computer specialists and one of the largest bodies of English- speaking IT professionals in the world," she said.
The president added that at the Millennium Development Summit, held in New York in 2000, world leaders agreed on a global partnership to work collectively for eradicating poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance and improving people's lives. "One of the Millennium Development Goals is the achievement of universal primary education by 2015 . That is only eight years away."
Globally, there are still 77 million primary school age children who are not enrolled in schools and 771 million adults who do not have basic literacy skills. The proportion of women who are illiterate is very high.
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, the president said: "Illiteracy is our sin and shame and must be liquidated."
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