We commend Imdadul Haque of Jhenidah for setting up several night schools for the farmers of his locality where __more than half the men are illiterate. The battle he launched against illiteracy in 2008 was faced with many challenges but has inculcated in the elderly an attitude of learning. Upon reaching the goal of teaching them literacy and numeracy, he now educates them on sanitation, hygiene and morality. And the pupils, some of them in their sixties, are happy and excited to have the opportunity to learn.
Imadadul's initiative bears special significance because farmers constitute about 47 percent of the labour force of the country, making a significant contribution to the GDP. But they are often bypassed by ambitious government progammes and projects. It is important to understand that the performance of farmers has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives such as employment generation and poverty alleviation.
An educated farmer is a better farmer. He or she has a better shot at not being exploited by the proverbial middleman who often eats away at their hard toil. Literacy gives them a certain sense of empowerment to these farmers as evident from the Jhenidah example. Moreover, in order to take advantage of the digital transformation the country is going through, one has to be literate first.
Imdadul alone cannot accomplish this task. He needs all the support from the public and private sectors and the NGOs that can launch similar programmes across the country.