The government is mooting a plan to introduce identity cards for those living below the poverty line so that they can avail of free education and health facilities. Children of those who earn less than a dollar a day have always stood at the receiving end of the educational process, among other things. The less said about social discrimination, sometimes including in the underequipped schools which lack teachers and have no textbooks, the better. Supreme as domestic work is for the poor people, it prevents parents from encouraging children to attend classes, far less vouch support for them in their educational venture. The combined effect of all this has been a stagnating primary education sector, and a dismal literacy rate among the poor and the marginalised groups. The main culprit besides official indifference is the rank poverty that cuts across class, creed, age, sex and religion. The poor in the country come from all religious backgrounds. But the marginalised poor, such as Dalits and Janajatis, are further afar in the scale than the socially privileged but economically deprived. If the government is set to change the demographics among the poor, the identity cards might as well be a good beginning. These people have waited too long to benefit from programmes that came for their benefit.

Successful educational drives have been tied up with poverty alleviation programmes. One such programme already underway in Nepal includes the food for education drive whereby the wards receive things like cooking oil in return for parents sending their children to schools. That has been a phenomenal success. Many schools in Terai are now forced to accommodate the student influx. The WFP and the government are considering increasing the food quota. When the new identity cards help the poor students to benefit from such programmes without any hassles, students will be emboldened to attend school. However, even noble causes have often failed because those supposed to implement them have not performed their duties properly. An idea cannot be translated into action without the support of dedicated individuals. Those individuals in the education sector are the teachers, who, unfortunately, often have to spend more time outside the classroom. It is for a teacher to identify stragglers and students’ strengths and weaknesses. A teacher can show a student the door to success. Teachers have succeeded in shaping the minds of their pupils even in the face of difficulties, and for this huge resources are not necessary. In order to realise the goal of Education for All by 2015, the teachers must be the first ones to show dedicaton to the cause. The identity card plan can actually help that drive become successful.