Outline:

Literacy is mostly defined as the state in which a person can read, write, understand simple numerical calculations and can communicate with others. However, the modern comprehensive definition of literacy is far more different. According to the modern definition, literacy is not only the acquiring of reading or writing skills but is the ability to evolve according to the requirements of time and place. The literacy thus also includes all the technical skills that help a person in getting the job and adjusting according to the requirements of an organization. Literacy plays an integral role in the economic development of a country ranging from the microeconomic level to the macro level.

Literacy at all levels gives the citizens a sense of responsibility and personal importance but at primary level, it makes a mind open to new positive and productive ideas while discouraging it from trains of negative thoughts. The positive mind-building at the basic level results in a generation of educated youth who act as a catalyst for the economic development of the whole community on the broader level in future. The educated minds also act as the eyes and minds of the country and are very hard to mold towards the agenda of terrorism, extremism, separatism, and hatred. These minds educate uneducated people about the threats that they face from the extremist sections of the society and thus become hindrances in the path of efforts to make society a breeding ground for violence and terrorism.

The acquisition of required technical skills helps the person in finding better jobs at a much high pay than an unskilled person because companies try to hire people who are already skilled than those upon whom they have to invest money. The employment of one person means the better living standard of a family which in turns means the better economic conditions of the community and the country as a whole. The employed person is able to provide his family and especially children with the basic needs of life such as schooling, food, safe drinking water etc.

The high literacy rate also leads to toward the control in population, which is a time bomb. This time bomb could explode at any point of time and can only be diffused by educating people about safer preventive measures. Literate people are aware of the need of population control and have the understanding of modern preventive techniques and thus try to plan their family size according to the resources they have. This makes them able to provide the best of facilities to their children which are the future of the nation. Illiterate people, on the other hand, lack the knowledge and understanding that help them in proper family planning.

The literate and educated minds instead of serving others usually start their own business ventures. This not only provides a significant boost to the income of their families but also generates huge job opportunities for others, thus have a positive impact on many families. The formation of small companies and startups across the globe points to the rising trends of entrepreneurship, especially important is the role of Information and technology in this trend. Young students make the bulk of founders of such companies and this can prove to be a great alternative for young comers instead of becoming a burden on others or searching for government jobs. The rise of literacy also attracts investors and multinational firms to invest in that country because the educated minds can provide them the skills that the companies are in need of avail.

When youth belonging to the poor sections of the society are educated, they compete with the elite class of getting higher level government jobs. This brings a whole new lot of talented administrators who have the know-how of the ground instead of depending on the elite sections who are unaware of the problems of poor. The young minds also bring new and fresher ideas with them and that is evident in the new popular trend of E-governance. E-governance if implemented in true sense can significantly reduce the level of corruption that is eating the roots of the country from within. This leads to proper checks and balances on the employees, resulting in the production on the massive level.

The educated youth can become a source of earning when getting jobs abroad. By sending money back home they not only contribute to earnings of their families but to the whole country by increasing foreign exchange reserves. These people also serve as the ambassadors of their countries abroad to show a soft and positive image of their countries to the people of the country in which they are residing and to the world as a whole. They work towards pursuing the interests and positive image of the native country.

Japan and China are the two glaring examples of the improvement in the socio-economic situation due to rise in literacy rate. Japan is not anywhere near to have sufficient natural resources but still is one of the developed countries and fastest moving economies in the world. The credit of Japan’s economic development goes to the level of technical skills that its people have. Japanese is considered to be the world genius in their aptitude for technical fields and science and technology, this fact has contributed significantly to their economic uplift.

Japan is now considered the economic and manufacturing for the region and the world. China is another recent and by many measures the best examples for us.  During Second World War, China was a non-entity with less than 20 percent literacy rate and dismal economic conditions, occupied by the Japanese forces. However, the socialist revolution of Mao Zhao dang and economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping resulted in an economic turnaround.  The economic turnaround can truly be dedicated to the increase in literacy rate which is now more than 90 percent. In the modern world, China is considered to be an economic superpower and military might.

Now if we compare Afghanistan, a highly resource-rich country, with that of Japan; the difference is imminent. Japan having scare natural resources is one of the manufacturing hubs of the world whereas Afghanistan with all its resources is considered to be the poorest and violence-prone countries in the world. This reason is quite simple and that is lack of focus on education and modern technical skills. Similarly, Pakistan has been blessed with natural resources and human capital but the lack of technical skills to exploit both the natural resources and human capital has been the reason for our economic depravity.

The first thing we as a state should do is to make it compulsory for the parents to send their children to school. The state should help them by providing free schooling and economic incentives to motivate the parents. The state should also build world level Engineering universities and technical institutes to produce and groom a generation of youth skilled with technical knowledge. The industry should be made bound to collaborate with these institutes to hire fresh graduates to improve their technical skills as well as provide the industry with fresh legs to increase national growth.

The dismal economic performance of our country can be attributed to illiteracy along with other factors. In Pakistan, only 50 percent of our population is literate but that too includes those people who can only write their names and the worst thing is that majority of these people lack the technical skills. We need to focus on our education system and especially on the technical education if want to develop at an economic that the world is developing. The acquisition of these skills will help us to grab our deserved position in the comity of nations.