MONDAY MUSE (7 July 2008)
LITERACY
Just the other day, a friend was showing me an interesting statistic about our
state. Goa recorded 82% literacy in the 2001 Census. But the ground reality
also reflected a very strange behavioural trait. Nearly 80% (our estimate) of
the citizens showed a lack of ability to follow simple instructions. Cars zoom
past signposts that restrict speed. No parking boards become pegs for parking
vehicles. Spit accumulates under the do-not-spit directive.
This is surely a common civic phenomenon all over India. But surely it is not
about the ability to read or the lack of literacy. It is about the attitudinal
paradigms which annihilate the ability of the literate. In fact, most such
civic signs are graphic enough to be understood even by illiterates. But we
literates tend to veer to civic behaviour which we ourselves might find
uncivil, offensive or even boorish, when committed by others.
We must examine whether we measure up to the standards of literacy. We must
confirm whether our acquisition of the ability to read is underlined by the
consecutive learning. Knowing to read, actual reading and appropriate response
based on such reading can be totally dissimilar in terms of actual behaviour.
To be better it is not enough to be literate, we must use the literacy to good
effect. We need to accept the responsibility of being responsive.
The sign-boards before us are literacy tests, after all
To BE BETTER we need responsive behaviour to walk tall.
cheers
Pravin-da
7 July 2008, Goa.
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