Bhaktapur, October 26

Nepal government, Non Formal Education Centre is going to launch literacy classes as part of ‘Continuous Education’ from November 17 this year.

Though the government had plans to eradicate illiteracy from the country by the end of previous fiscal year, 7.5 per cent of Nepali people between 15 and 60 years still remain illiterate.

Babu Ram Poudel, director, NFEC today said, “We have been able to cover 92.5 per cent of illiterate population between 15 and 60 years in the past few years.” He informed that 20 districts have already been declared fully literate.

Recently, Nuwakot and Bhaktapur districts were declared fully literate, while 31 districts have already made more than 95 per cent of their people literate. These districts will also be declared fully literate very soon, he said.

He mentioned that by the end of 2015, 51 districts will be declared fully literate, while the remaining 14 districts will run literacy classes till they attain full literacy.

“We have already prepared directives for running literacy classes under the continuous education program,” he said, adding, “Orientation classes have already been conducted in all development regions except the eastern region.”

Community mobilisers from Community Learning Centres will be mobilised to conduct literacy classes across the country.

Last year, Non Formal Education Centre launched literacy classes in 17 districts. The campaign would continue until the target is accomplished, said Poudel.

In 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, 164 governments, including Nepal, had agreed on the Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments, launching an ambitious agenda to reach six wide-ranging education goals by 2015.

Adult literacy was one of the goals of Education for All-2015.

As per the commitment, Nepal prepared National Plan of Action to achieve the goals and launched National Literacy Campaign to eradicate illiteracy from the country.