Page 108 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

the then Janata government had proposed to give the subject
of adult education to the RSS. Bhaurao Deoras, Assistant
Secretary of the Sangh, accepted it immediately and promised
the government that RSS would reach out to five lakh villages
with adult education schemes. For some reason, the Janata
government withdrew the proposal, and a big plan was rolled
up before it could begin. Had that plan been implemented then,
the number of educated people in the country today would have
been much higher and it would have had a huge impact on the
socio-economic system of the country. The government has
appealed to NGOs for help in resuming the scheme today. It is
also suggested that vacant space in school/college buildings in
the evenings, can be used for training. In the changing times,
adult education is not limited to writing, reading and arithmetic.
Now it is necessary to introduce at least the areas of financial
literacy, computer literacy and information technology. It is
the intention of the government to extend various government
schemes directly to every citizen. The government plans to
distribute government funds directly to the last person through
banks, avoiding government interference. For this scheme to
be successful, the adult education scheme needs to be more
successful.
To make one hundred percent population literate, the
government will make a big effort to stop the education dropouts
from the college and turn the children who are in domestic
work to education. Large number of children in urban areas,
children in remote rural areas, children in forest areas are out
of school. The government plans to set up a separate education
department, SEZ, for those settlements or villages. The problem
of employment in forested areas is serious. Due to hunger and
disease, children are not able to go to school. It is difficult for
the teachers to reach these children as their settlements are
remote. Regular teaching- learning is very difficult, as there
is a big difference between the language of the teacher and
the language of the Vanavasi children. The students do not
understand the subject taught by the teacher. So, they do not
want to learn. For such students, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram
and the Ekal Vidyalaya Yojana run by Vishwa Hindu Parishad
have been very successful in raising the standard of education.
Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata 106