Introduction: Literacy is a blessing while illiteracy is a curse. Illiteracy is similar to darkness. It prevents the people from marching ahead to seat up an ideal social fabric. A man without learning is akin to a beast. Education helps a man turn into a complete man. The importance of learning is undeniable. So illiteracy is to be driven out at all costs.
What is illiteracy: Illiteracy means inability to read and write. Illiteracy is a curse because it is illiteracy that lowers down/human being to the level of the beast. Illiteracy is a great social evil because it creates different kinds of social evils and vices and prevents social progress and development. It is the root cause of ignorance superstition, backwardness, poverty and many more.
Causes of illiteracy: Poverty is the main cause of illiteracy and vice versa. There are other causes too. Overpopulation, financial and resource constraints, people’s superstition, and negative attitude to word education, Jack of awareness, etc. are responsible for illiteracy. The colonial rule of legacy, and lack of effective govt. policy are two other major causes of illiteracy.
Bad effects of illiteracy: The effects of illiteracy are multifarious. Due to illiteracy an individual can pot distinguish between right and wrong. They also remain unaware of their rights and responsibilities. This kind of inability and unawareness are responsible for various individual and social backwardness. Illiteracy generates hundreds of problems. Because of illiteracy, people do not know how to earn well and how to spend well. As a result, they can not come out, of their poverty trap. Child labour and child marriage and high growth rate of the population are also the causes of illiteracy.
The necessity of literacy: Bangladesh is a developing country. Her rate of literacy is about 30%. The major portion of people is illiterate. She can, for this reason, make no development in any field. An illiterate nation plays no role in development work because they cannot make any plane profile and design of it. Literacy helps a nation develop in all respects. It provides people with knowledge, wisdom, light of education and the power of detecting right or wrong.
The ways of removing illiteracy: Illiteracy is a dreadful and complex problem. Some steps can be taken for this such as-
(a) The compulsory primary education system will have to be taken.
(b) Every family will have to send his child to school.
(c) We shall have to finance poor and talented children.
(d) The adult education programme will have to be made forceful.
(e) Farmers will have to make educated or literate. Then our agriculture system will be developed.
(f) Governmental and non-governmental staffs are to be adopted to make the illiterate people of the country literate.
(g) In this regard, broadcasting media can play an active role.
(h) Especially students will have to advance in removing illiteracy.
Conclusion: Literacy and illiteracy are the two opposite directions of a thing. The former is a blessing and, the latter is a curse. Hence literacy should be encouraged and illiteracy should be eradicated.
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