The Rural Employment Guarantee (REG) Act and other welfare schemes of the government will be propagated through the national literacy campaign, officials of the Human Resource Development Ministry said. The plan is part of efforts to expand the scope of the campaign beyond reading and writing skills. “The National Literacy Mission (NLM) targets to achieve 75 percent literacy by 2007. Though the positive side- effects of the campaign—such as the increasing preference for small families—is never quantified, it is as significant as the statistical targets,” said an official. The official said the ministry was considering preparing study material for neo-literates on topics such as REG, right to information and legal literacy. Initially, it will cover the continuing education segment of the campaign. The official said the initiative would benefit the implementation of the bill as well as the NLM.“More people will be motivated to stay on in the learning track since they get to learn something that will make their life better. They will learn what they are entitled to under the REG and how to use it. An increase in public awareness will lead to better utilisation of the Act,” the official pointed out.The 200 districts covered by the REG have the lowest literacy rates in the country. Of 600 districts, 238 have entered the continuing education phase of the NLM, in which neo-literates are helped to retain their learning and to develop their productive skills.One of the original aims of the NLM is to make “people aware of the causes of deprivation,” and to seek corrective measures. With the focus often being in adding more literates, aspects such as these get lower priority,admit officials. The success of the NLM in terms of raising public awareness on social issues such as gender equality, small family norm etc., has been tremendous.
