Literacy And Illiteracy In Pakistan

Literacy is traditionally meant as the ability to read and write.1 The concept of literacy is expanding in OECD countries to include skills to access knowledge through technology and ability to assess complex contexts.2 A person who travels and resides in a foreign country but is unable to read or write in the language of the host country would also be regarded by the locals as being illiterate.
Literacy is very effective and important parameter of measuring social development of a society. Literacy is also the ground reason for many other social problems such as crime rate, political unawareness and terrorism which off course has turned into a cancer.
Whereas Illiteracy is defined as “the quality or condition of being unable to read or write”.

Although successive governments have announced various programmes to promote literacy, especially among women, but they have been unable to translate their words into actions because of various political, social and cultural obstacles. Access to basic education is the right of every individual. Education is the most important instrument in enhancing human capabilities, and in achieving the desired objectives of economic development. Education enables individuals to make informed choices, broaden their horizons and opportunities and to have a voice in public decision-making. It is one of the most important factors that act as a counterweight to social and economic mobility imposed by cultural and historical biases. Education is a vehicle of nation building through which a nation’s shared interpretation of history and cultural values are reproduced across generations. At the country level, education means strong economic growth due to productive and skilled labor force. At the individual level, education is strongly correlated to higher returns in earning and a more informed and aware existence. The emerging global scenario offers immense opportunities and challenges, and only those nations can benefit from it, which have acquired the required knowledge base and skills. There are 163,000 primary schools in Pakistan, of which merely 40,000 cater to girls. According to UNICEF, 17.6 per cent of Pakistani children are working and

Take, for example, common expressions such as 'computer literacy,' "civic literacy,' 'health literacy,' and a score of other usages in which literacy stands for know-how and awareness of the first word in the expression. Other authors have also pondered the complexity of applying definitions of literacy, whether traditional or evolving, to individuals with disabilities. While most authors in this area have recognized literacy as "interactive, constructive, strategic, and meaning-based" (Steelman, Pierce, & Koppenhaver, 1994, p. 201),4 they also typically maintain the notion that comprehension and use of written text is central to literacy. Steelman, Pierce and Koppenhaver's definition is a good example: "To be literate is to be able to gather and to construct meaning using written