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EDUCATION AND CULTURE
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SOCIAL EDUCATION
Another aspect of education is social education. The activities under this head are mainly concerned with promoting literacy in adults, by taking special classes in the villages.
To spread literacy and increase the general knowledge among the masses as also to propagate ideals of good citizenship, schemes of social education were implemented through District Development Board under the guidance of the Regional Social Education Committee for the Maharashtra region. Under the scheme propaganda is carried out by the Social Education Committee, as also by the organisation of cultural and recreational programmes, through film and magic lantern shows, publication of periodical journals, arranging bhajans, dramas and lectures, celebration of the All-India Social Education Day, the Harijan Day, vanamahotsava, gram sudhar saptah, etc. Under the Community Development Project and N.E.S. programme, similar schemes aimed at eradication of adult illiteracy were launched. The number of adults made literate under the schemes was 2,663 in 1957-58 and 3,470 in 1958-59.
During 1960-61, 902 social education classes for men and women were conducted in the district. The total enrolment in these classes was 15,586, of whom 13,847 were men and 173 were women. During the years 1961-1964, there was a downward trend visible in the coverage of illiterate adults under this programme. In Pune division, the adults under instructions, who numbered 5.37 lakhs in 1961-62 decreased to 3.19 lakhs in 1963-64. This decrease was about 40 per cent. In Sholapur district this decrease was more steep. In 1961-62 about 71 thousand adults were made literate out of a total of 1.42 lakhs adults under instructions. The achievement under the programme was thus to the tune of 50 per cent. The achievement dropped to about 30 per cent in 1963-64.
The proportion of females in the total adults made literate however increased from 54 per cent in 1961-62 to 62 per cent in 1963-64 in Sholapur district.
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