The government has stopped allocating budget for the Total Literate Nepal Mission in 58 districts even though most of them have yet to achieve the target of total literacy in the 15-60 years age group.

The Non Formal Education Center (NFEC), the government body responsible for implementing the drive has said 51 out of 58 districts where the drive has officially concluded have yet to achieve the literacy target. Only seven districts have met the goal set for mid-July whereas 17 other districts have just begun the campaign.

“NFEC won´t fund the post literacy drive where the literacy campaign has concluded,” said NFEC Director Babu Ram Poudel. He said budget constraint has affected the ´Teach One Each One´ approach.

This approach is part of concentrated literacy drive that aims to identify the missing candidates in the post literacy campaign and make them able to read and write, he added.

Now as no budget would be allocated for the campaign, district education offices along with the government and non-government agencies would be responsible to make the Teach One Each One a success at the district level, Poudel added. "They have to do that through own resources. The center will provide only education materials like textbook, copy and pencils. Volunteers and facilitators won´t be hired as planned before,” he added.

According to Poudel, the budget allocated for the campaign this year is more than the budget allocated seven years ago. So naturally, that is insufficient to hire additional trainers and facilitators. He informed that the Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs1.05 billion for the drive even though the NFEC had demanded Rs1.6 billion.

In this scenario, the success of Teach one Each One is solely dependent on secondary level students who have to participate voluntarily in the post literacy campaign, he added.
The government in 2012 had begun the drive with the aim of making 5,173,970 people between 15-60 years of age literate.

source: republica,19 jan 2015