Literacy in India

Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress,^[1] and the Indian literacy rategrew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947.^[2][3] Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%,^[4] and India currently has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth.^[5] Despite government programs, India's literacy rate increased only "sluggishly,"^[6] and a 1990 study estimated that it would take until 2060 for India to achieve universal literacy at then-current rate of progress.^[7] The 2011 census, however, indicated a 2001-2011 decadal literacy growth of 9.2%, which is the slower than the growth seen during the previous decade.

There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women. ^[8] The low female literacy rate has had a dramatically negative impact on family planning and population stabilization efforts in India. Studies have indicated that female literacy is a strong predictor of the use of contraception among married Indian couples, even when women do not otherwise have economic independence.^[9] The census provided a positive indication that growth in female literacy rates (11.8%) was substantially faster than in male literacy rates (6.9%) in the 2001-2011 decadal period, which means the gender gap appears to be narrowing.^[10]

Steps Taken By Indian Government To Promote Education.

In INDIA, the education is neglected in rural areas only (for boys and girls both), so the Government's SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN (All's Education Program) is surrounded by action since year 2001, specially for the children in rural areas, under which every child should be erudite and they has the right for their education. Under this program the Indian Government provides Uniform, Day meal, Books, Stationary etc for free to the children, so that poorchildren can also be learned.

How to Deal With Your Young Children When They Interrupt You

Steps

1. 1
   Expect your young children to interrupt you.
2. 2
   For very young children, be prepared with distractions; a basket full of interesting objects from home or the dollar store, snacks, a small bowl of uncooked rice or beans with measuring spoons and cups.
3. 3
   Start when they begin to talk. Teach them to either put their hand on your knee if you are sitting or to hold your hand if you are standing instead of beginning to speak. A three year old can easily do this. Touch the child to let him know that you realize he's waiting (eg. lay your hand on his while it's on your knee). The younger the child, the sooner you should break your conversation and ask your child what it is they want to say.
4. 4
   Teach your child how to get your attention politely as soon as they are able to understand. Polite interruptions should be acknowledged and dealt with promptly. Rude interruptions, such as nagging, yelling or tugging at your shirt, should be dealt with negatively and not rewarded. (For example, if your child keeps calling "Mommy, mommy!" while you are in the middle of something, unless it is a real emergency, tell them that whatever it is they want, they can't have because they were rude.)
5. 5
   Politely let your child know when they are interrupting and ask them to wait. Try not to be rude or come across as annoyed, such as exclaiming, “Can’t you see I’m talking to someone!?" While you may think you’re teaching reasoning skills, you are actually teaching lessons on how to respond rudely to others.
6. 6
   Expect adults to wait. If your child is politely seeking your attention, kindly ask adults to “please hold on" while you quickly respond to your child’s interruption. Others will admire your politeness and patience. Thank them for holding within earshot of your child.
7. 7
   Have a long term plan for teaching manners. By age four, your expectations for kind behavior should be increasing. At this age, remind your child of your rules about interrupting and suggest what they should do if they want your attention while you are talking to someone else.
8. 8
   Understand that interrupting becomes less (although never completely - to be realistic) when children show signs of understanding another person’s point of view. In the meantime, understanding their developmental limitations must be taken into account. Always remember that children learn positive traits by constant exposure to positive attitudes and behaviors, especially by their parents
9. .Bottom Line: When you calmly respond to your young children’s interruptions, they feel important and understood. If you yell or speak rudely to them, they will learn to treat others the same. Be patient during these egocentric years of development, or you’ll find yourself in a constant state of frustration. This kind of frustration will lead your child to think that he disappoints you. Negative thoughts get harder and harder to shed. Negative thinking turns into low self-esteem. You have the power not to let this happen.

Constructed varieties of English

• Basic English is simplified for easy international use. Manufacturers and other international businesses tend to write manuals and communicate in Basic English. Some English schools in Asia teach it as a practical subset of English for use by beginners.
• E-Prime excludes forms of the verb to be.
• English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
• Manually Coded English constitutes a variety of systems that have been developed to represent the English language with hand signals, designed primarily for use in deaf education. These should not be confused with true sign languages such as British Sign Language andAmerican Sign Language used in Anglophone countries, which are independent and not based on English.
• Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international cooperation and communication in specific areas. There is also a tunnelspeak for use in the Channel Tunnel.
• Simplified Technical English was historically developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals and is now used in various industries.
• Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of only 1500 words

English as a global language

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era,^[19] and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language. Some linguists believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural property of "native English speakers", but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it continues to grow.^[19] It is, by international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime communications.^[62] English is an official language of the United Nations and many other international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee.

English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union, by 89% of schoolchildren, ahead of French at 32%, while the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages amongst Europeans is 68% in favour of English ahead of 25% for French.^[63]Among some non-English speaking EU countries, a large percentage of the adult population can converse in English – in particular: 85% in Sweden, 83% in Denmark, 79% in the Netherlands, 66% in Luxembourg and over 50% in Finland, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, and Germany.^[64]

Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences^[19] with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.

This increasing use of the English language globally has had a large impact on many other languages, leading to language shift and evenlanguage death,^[65] and to claims of linguistic imperialism.^[66] English itself is now open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole.^[66] For this reason, the 'English language is forever evolving'.^[67]

Countries where English is a major language

English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam,Guernsey, Guyana, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In some countries where English is not the most spoken language, it is an official language; these countries include Botswana, Cameroon, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malta, the Marshall Islands,Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines (Philippine English), Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa,Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It is also one of the 11 official languages that are given equal status in South Africa (South African English). English is also the official language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and Cocos Island) and of the United States (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands),^[59] and the former British colony of Hong Kong. (See List of countries where English is an official language for more details.)

English is not an official language in the United States.^[60] Although the United States federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments.^[61] Although falling short of official status, English is also an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of the United Kingdom, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cyprus, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Geographical distribution of English Language

Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language.^[38] English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese andSpanish.^[11][39] However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the Chinese languages (depending on whether or not distinctions in the latter are classified as "languages" or "dialects").^[40][41]

Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on how literacy or mastery is defined and measured.^[42][43] Linguistics professor David Crystal calculates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.^[44]

The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order:United States (215 million),^[45] United Kingdom (61 million),^[46] Canada (18.2 million),^[47] Australia(15.5 million),^[48] Nigeria (4 million),^[49] Ireland (3.8 million),^[46] South Africa (3.7 million),^[50] and New Zealand (3.6 million) 2006 Census.^[51]

Countries such as the Philippines, Jamaica and Nigeria also have millions of native speakers ofdialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to a more standard version of English. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers ('Indian English'). Crystal claims that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world.^[52][53]

Significance of English

Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca,^[18][19] is the dominant language or in some instances even the required international language of communications, science, information technology, business, seafaring,^[20] aviation,^[21] entertainment, radio and diplomacy.^[22] Its spread beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire, and by the late 19th century its reach was truly global .^[3] Following British colonisation from the 16th to 19th centuries, it became the dominant language in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The growing economic and cultural influence of the US and its status as a global superpower since World War II have significantly accelerated the language's spread across the planet.^[19] English replaced German as the dominant language of scienceNobel Prize laureates during the second half of the 20th century^[23] (compare the Evolution of Nobel Prizes by country).

A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and computing; as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level (see English language learning and teaching). It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.

One impact of the growth of English is the reduction of native linguistic diversity in many parts of the world. Its influence continues to play an important role in language attrition.^[24] Conversely, the natural internal variety of English along with creoles and pidgins have the potential to produce new distinct languages from English over time.^[25]