India at present has a literacy rate of about 65 per cent. A lot needs to be done in this sphere for the country to be a true economic and political power. Although there has been success in the states of Kerala and Mizoram, there are numerous communities in India among whom literacy is a rarity and education almost entirely absent. Added to that, the government's literacy figures do not often reflect the true picture as a number of so-called "literates" can do nothing more than just sign their name, and reversion to illiteracy is a common phenomenon among the newly literate.

Poverty and a hand to mouth existence has forced India's deprived communities to forego an education for their offspring as they neither have the time nor the means for it. Children are made to work from an early age to contribute to the family income and in a situation like this, spending a full day in school for years on can mean nothing more than a waste of time for the parents, even if education is free. As such children grow up uneducated and illiterate, their only recourse is menial labour, be it in their own village or even when they migrate to the city. This lack of education not only prevents them from getting better employment, they are also not able to make informed choices that can enable them to take their destiny in their own hands. As a result, they are exploited throughout their lives.

In a society where, due to various social reasons, the girl child is most often unwanted and considered a burden, female literacy is a dismal statistic, with numbers as low as almost half that of male figures. In a society where its womenfolk are uneducated, development, especially human development, is difficult to achieve.

There is also a big gap between rural and urban literacy rates. According to the 1991 census, while 73 per cent of urban residents in India are literate, the figure is only 45 per cent for rural residents.

According to official estimates, the number of children in India between the ages of six and 14 attending school is only 49 per cent of the total. To tackle widespread illiteracy and its attendant child labour, the government has taken a number of initiatives aimed at making formal education mandatory and accessible for children.

The National Policy on Education, formulated in 1986 and updated in 1992, provides a basic outline for the development of education in the country, specifically targeting the girl child. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for all campaign), initiated in November 2001, is the most impressive government programme aimed at achieving universalisation of primary education for children between six and 14, as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution. The Parliament recently also passed the Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2004 to provide free and compulsory education to all between the ages of six and 14.

Although not a fool-proof framework, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 lays down a series of regulations for controlling child labour.

A number of non government organizations (NGOs) are also active in education and literacy projects. NGOs have also been promoting non formal and alternative education with flexible curricula to meet the needs of drop outs and non-enrolled children without access to formal education systems. While great strides have been made by the voluntary sector in making education and literacy accessible to poorer sections of society such as slum dwellers and deprived classes, many of them realize that the problem cannot be tackled by making schooling compulsory and providing educational facilities alone. Some deep-rooted social malaises have to be tackled first. Those include discrimination on the basis of caste, class and gender. There is also a realization that the government model of education is outdated and gives its recipients very little training in acquiring skills that can serve their purpose, leading to high drop-out rates and non-enrollment. A lot of emphasis is therefore given on vocational training that equip students with specific skills from an early age.

Asha for Education

This voluntary action group is dedicated towards promoting basic education for socio-economic improvement. It particularly stresses upon educating underprivileged children and involving local groups in the process. The organization was created in 1991 by a group of Indian students at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Today, Asha (hope) has grown significantly and has 66 chapters over the world, including 45 in the US and 14 in India, with over 1000 volunteers. Up till now, Asha has supported 385 projects across India, with funds of more than US$ four million. Asha projects have had a significant impact on not only education and literacy in various corners of the country, but due to its broad and comprehensive vision, it has managed to raise health and living standards in all the communities it has worked and been involved with.

  ECAT

To promote education, ECAT started running nine schools for children in the interior villages. The government school is at the distance of one and a half or more kilometers from these villages. The project was supported by T.D.H., an organisation funding in the area of education. The organisation has withdrawn the project in 2004. Due to lack of financial support ECAT is not in a position to run the school. The organisation talked to the Govt. education department to takeover so that the schools could open in the session 2005. It did not work out. People from two villages went on strike and under pressure the authorities have arranged a temporary alternative. But the other seven schools remained closed leaving approximately 250 children out of school. The struggle is still going on. Hope still remains….

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan - Government's education for all campaign

India Literacy Project - A USA/India based non government organizing supporting educational initiatives for the poor and deprived in India

Pratham – A voluntary organization promoting education among the poor in India

(http://www.pratham.org)

Asha for Education – An action group for basic education in India

(http://www.ashanet.org)