Illiteracy is the inability of a person to read and write. It is one of the biggest social issues of the world right now which doesn’t only affect a person but the whole society. Illiteracy is the main cause of many big problems in our country such as poverty, unemployment, lower GDP, increasing street crimes, backwardness, superstitious belief, and many more. All these issues limit the opportunities of society to progress. Illiteracy In Pakistan: The current literacy rate in Pakistan is about 58% which means that 42% of our population is still uneducated. Reading and writing are the basic and most important skills for human beings. Illiterate people have no knowledge about many things and how to react to those things. They are not aware of the current country crisis so that they cannot participate in the well-being of society. The illiteracy rate is still very high in our country. We should reduce the illiteracy rate in our country so that we can raise our standard of living and our country can progress towards being a better society.
CAUSES OF ILLITERACY:
There are many reasons that cause illiteracy. The main reason could be poverty and an expensive educational system, as there are many people in Pakistan who aren’t even able to eat 3 times a day, so how will they educate their children in these circumstances? Also, our educational system has become so expensive that even middle-class people cannot afford it. The fees, books, uniforms, and other extra charges in private schools are very unaffordable. It is our government’s duty to make education easy and less expensive for people so that we can educate our upcoming generation. Another main reason for illiteracy is uneducated parents. Many parents, especially in rural areas think that education is not much important for a person. They have their own agricultural lands from where they can earn enough money to survive and that’s why they do not pay much attention to their children’s education. Therefore, it is our duty to tell those people the importance of education and that education is not only important for jobs or earning money. Many children have all the opportunities but still, they are not interested in getting an education. This can be caused by a learning disorder or any disease that they find difficult to study. It is the responsibility of their parents to know the problem of their child and motivate them to study.
CONSEQUENCES OF ILLITERACY:
Illiteracy causes some irreparable damages to our society such as poverty, poor health conditions, decreasing economy, and increasing crime rates. The future generation is our asset and if they do not get proper education, it is a huge loss for us as a society. Uneducated people have to face a lot of difficulties in their life. The first and most difficult thing to do without education is finding a good job that provides you a handsome salary. Uneducated people have to work really hard just to earn some money. Uneducated people have fewer chances of getting employed and also fewer chances of earning a good salary which also causes homelessness. Illiteracy also causes poor health conditions as an uneducated have not much information about his health and about the symptoms of many common diseases which if not treated properly can become dangerous. They also don’t know how to take their prescriptions correctly. Illiterate people also don’t pay much attention to hygiene. They don’t understand the importance of hygienic food and clean water h leads them to many dangerous diseases. These people are also heavily involved in smoking, drinking, drugs, and obesity as they don’t know the consequences of these things. Uneducated people can never raise their standard of living and their lifestyle according to society because they don’t have enough information and resources for the new technologies and new inventions. Illiterate people can also suffer from low self-esteem in society. When a person cannot read and write properly, he also faces difficulty in communicating with people. They can feel out of the place and left in the company of educated people. As it is very difficult for illiterate people to find jobs so they get involved in crimes and snatching to earn some money so we can say that the increasing crime rates in our country are also one of the results of illiteracy. People find it easy to just snatch some money rather than working hard and finding a good job. Begging is also one of the issues which are caused by unemployment and illiteracy. Lastly, an uneducated person can never raise their children well because they have not much knowledge about children’s development and how to build a bond with them. They can’t help their children when they face the hardships of life and their children also feels hesitant in communicating with them.
HOW TO REDUCE ILLITERACY:
As we know that most of the issues in our society are caused by illiteracy so it is not only our government’s job to reduce illiteracy but also ours. The government should try to take steps and make education less expensive and easy for everyone so that everyone can afford it. They should try to distribute rewards to deserving students, help poor children by giving them scholarships. The government should also organize some teaching programs for the parents and tell them about the importance of education and why they should educate their children. The educated and rich people in our society can also help in reducing illiteracy by spending their money and knowledge on the poor ones. Education is not just important for jobs or earning money but it is important to make you a better, kind, and wise person. It is important to make you confident as it helps you to survive in this society. It is important to understand the reason if many things. It gives you other ways of looking at things. It helps you in going to new places, meeting new people, exploring new things from the world. Education is a basic need of every human being and it is the right of every person to get an education.
