Literacy for Older People : Ageing Nepal

The Commission for the Rights of Older Persons of DIS-MOI has over the years developed a strong bond of friendship with Ageing Nepal exchanging information on programmes aimed at older people and our respective campaigns. In this context we are pleased to publish an article of Ageing Nepal in to-day’s issue.

« I realized that we are never too old to learn » said Chandra Kumari Panta, 80-years-old, Jorpati, Nepal. « Being illiterate, I have lived my life with a blurry vision in a world where technology is definitely something that the world can’t live without. But when I was able to read and write for the first time, that moment felt like I have wear glasses to cure my blurry vision and had a thought – age is merely a number not a barrier in learning »

Chandra Kumari Panta, a victim of gender inequality. Her desire for learning was buried at a small age. By the time, girls were often not given equal rights to education compared to a son. Since girls were deprived of education she soon became child bride and spent rest of her life being dependent on her husband. This problem still exists in many areas of Nepal.

Illiteracy among 14+ age Nepali population in 1952 was 90% for male and 99.4% for female (Census 1952-54). Nepal’s population of 27 million has literacy rate of 65.9%, 70.1% male and 57.4% for female (CBS 2011). This drastic changes lead to suffer illiteracy in the first half of 21st Century. The present world forbids illiterates, particularly for the 60+ persons which make them dependent on others. And as a result, the problem of loneliness and its consequences on their physical and mental health arises. In spite of that, no any existing educational policies and programs in Nepal have targeted this and that is a disadvantage to the society as a whole.

Panta added: « My life had become catastrophe since my husband died. I was all by myself struggling to fit in this highly educated Society. Then, I understood the importance of education. Today’s world has changed so far from the time I had born. Sometimes, I regret being born at that period. Nevertheless, I got a golden opportunity through Basic Literacy Class (BLC) to brighten my rest of the life with the light of education. »

Now, Panta studies for 2 hours at BLC in the evening. Basic Literacy Class (BLC) for older Persons was started in Nepal as a pilot project, conducted by Ageing Nepal – organization, working for the welfare of elderly people. This project is first in Nepal on Literacy for 60+ populations. Now, it is running smoothly in four places and they are looking for support to replicate the program in 6-10 more areas.

The vital features of these classrooms are its course books. After the statistical survey conducted by Ageing Nepal, they recognized the aims of elder people joining BLC– to read Newspaper and magazines. Unlike, children course books, it has been designed with larger font size, colors, and the use of vernacular words is different whereas the order of the alphabets has been also modified.

In the same vein, Kanchhi Gautam, 73, student of BLC too has a story of her own. Gautam stated: « whenever I was called to sign my name, I used to get embarrassed for asking fingerprint pad instead. Moreover, when I was in dire need of money to build a house, my bank loan was rejected just because I was unable to write my name. I was cursing myself but thankfully BLC came to me as a savior. Now, the things are different – I can read and write. »
« It could be a minor thing for other people but for an illiterate older woman like me, learning at this age is a big achievement indeed. Besides, it helped me to approve my loan as well. » Gautam said happily

On the other hand, a recent study shows, 36.7% of neo-learners in BLC have lost their enthusiasm to learn. They said, « We keep forgetting despite trying so hard. Learning is not for us. We don’t have anything to achieve. Perhaps, our age is too old to set objectives. »

« Neo-learners have pessimistic attitude since learning capability slow down as the age increases. But we have seen them changing their perspective after learning for a long period of time. On the contrary to the passionate learning, the challenges we face while running BLC for older persons is to maintain the regular attendance as a result of their health or family issues. » Said the teachers of BLC

Research also revealed, of those who have completed their classes, above 80% want to read further. And also have objective to motivate people of their age.

Literacy opens the door to learning throughout life. Whereas, illiteracy makes incompetent of taking advantage or participate and contribute to conventional societal development process. There still exist many older people who want to fulfill their wish of learning hoping to be true one day.

When it comes to education, we think it is for children, adolescents and young people only. Like all other human rights, right of education is universal and applies to everyone, irrespective of age. We should not exclude the older ones. Otherwise, darkness of illiteracy could bring isolation in this rapidly developing world leaving behind elder people to suffer alone.

By: Prasamsa Shrestha