Globalization has truly conquered the world. We see its effects unfolding before our very eyes like bowling balls sweeping the ten pins in the wide alleys. This phenomenon has yielded a more competitive world demanding the best from the citizens of the world. This phenomenon has pressed more people to learn the basics and earn a degree from reputable institutions of learning. The body of knowledge is greatly expanding.
However, despite the good news, there are still people who treats reading and writing as a completely strange concept. These group of people are branded by the society as illiterates just to distinct them from a more sophisticated and supreme group who place themselves in the highest of the social strata.
Since finding education for these people is not as easy as the finding a dentist directory, the problem which are by-products of the existence of these people in the society still lingers.
Some experts argue that education can affect the pace of development of a certain society. Say for example in first world countries like the United States of America where illiterates are fewer than three per cent of the total population, development takes in a faster pace as compared to countries in the under developed countries like Mozambique where illiterates accounts to more than fifty per cent of the total population. This proves the point those illiterates, aside from becoming a burden of the society serves as the main hindrance for full development to take place. Let us watch now how countries which invested a lot in education like the Philippines and Korea acquired the economic pump which propelled their countries to development and see the clear correlation of progress with literacy. This is the first effect of illiteracy in the society.
If we will allow ourselves to continue reading the literatures about the above-mentioned issue, we can also arrive in a conclusion that the presence of illiterates will yield to a more human rights abuses – prone and human rights abuses – tolerant society. This comes from the fact that illiterates are sometimes closed –minded and very much resistant when it comes to new information and knowledge. This complicates when the information that they resist are vital for them. The dream of making the world free from human rights violations starts with the intensification of the information drive in order to make people more aware of their rights. Knowing your rights will give you the weapon to defend yourself and other people from human rights abuses; and will prevent you from committing an act that will violate the rights of other people. This is just like giving a trust deed to a land owner to secure his claim over his land. This is due to the fact that the presence of the illiterates has an effect on the movement for a human rights-free world.
When they resist new information relating to their rights, they give their abusers more leverage to continue initiating injustice against them because they did not allowed themselves to learn that such actions against them are wrong.
In conclusion, illiterates can never be an asset of a society. It can pull a society down and will prevent it from reaching its desired destination. The government should make a new service that will convert these liabilities into a gem of the society.