In a developing country like India which is about half of its population is illiterate. ‘Education for All’ is a campaign that has so far remained a distant dream. India produces the best of doctors and engineers in the world. Now it is coming up as a country of software exporter to USA but still India remains an educationally backward nation. It is a shocking contrast. The reality bites everyone. Recently many organizations have come forward with the idea of ‘Education for All’. The central and state governments have woken up rather lately. Even China, Malaysia and other developing nations of Asia have higher literacy than India.
Economic backwardness and educational backwardness go together Bihar,Odisha, Assam and Kashmir are semi-illiterate states. Poverty prevents young children from going to schools. The evil practice of the child labour continues unabated.
The campaign ‘Education for All’ needs to be made a reality. Many social, cultural and voluntary organizations can play an important role in translating this dream into reality. Education and economic growth go hand in hand. The ‘Open Schools’ have proved very successful and useful in this respect. They need to be popularised especially among the villagers and economically weaker sections. School education should be made compulsory and free.
