Democracy and Illiteracy Cannot Move Together

“Democracy and Illiteracy cannot Move Together”
1. Introduction
2. Development of human political System
3. Principles of Democracy
4. Poor agriculture technology, low growth
5. Why illiteracy and democracy can’t move together
 Political instability
 Absence of intercommunal harmony and cooperation
 Equal chance to genders for development
 Tolerance and rule of law
 Effective administration
 Accountability and responsibility of government
 Meritocracy as base Nepotism
 Economical prosperity and cultural development
 Media and judiciary is not free
 No national consensus.
 Regionalism
6. Facts which show that democracy and Illiteracy cannot move together.
 Rise of authorization rule

 Poor economic growth, cultural development
 Little tolerance and cooperation
 Constantly degrading social life of citizens
 Violence and terrorism, Extremism.
 Incapacitate government structure
 Little cooperation on national interests.
7. Factors which leads to Illiteracy and dictatorship:
 No political will
 Little role of Media
 Religious fanaticism
 Degraded system of Education
 Little will of society for change
 Powerful feudalistic culture restricts
 Democratic process and education
8. Recommendation to eradicate Illiteracy and promote a stable democratic

system 9.Conclusion:
Referring to the democratic system of the world as a peak of human’s

political development. Huntington described it as the “End of Human Political
History”. Democracy, owing to its fruits and dividends, stands at a distinguished
and unique position among other forms of government. This system not only
provides all the basic rights of individuals and treats them equal but enables
them through education to grow and prosper. If anyone wants to alienate them
of their rights, they can pursue them by legal means. Almost all the thinkers
and philosophers of political Science, despite having much differences regarding
their other view, ae agree that democratic system is the only government which
represents people wishes and safeguard their interests/well beings. Where so
many factors are responsible for jeopardizing the real benefits grows and
performance of democracy, illiteracy is rated as its biggest enemy because of
creating such an environment which not only endangers the very existence of it
but also deprives it of the various fruits that are promised by democratic
system. Democracy and illiteracy, irrefutably/certainly, can never move
together.
Since the beginning of life on earth human beings have passed through
many stages. In the early stages only food, clothes and shelter were their
requirements as these were necessary for survival. Gradually with increasing
population human being learned to organize and develop governance system.
Human civilization has passed through various systems of governance
including theocracy, oligarchy, patriarchy, monarchy, autocracy,
dictatorship and through the ages of empires and city-states, human wisdom is
now convinced that democracy is the only form of government for equal justice,
common growth, collective progress, peace and prosperity.
The basic principle basis of democracy is popular Sovereignty. Abraham

Lincoln describes democracy as “the government of the people, by the
people for the people.” According to Merriam Webster dictionary
“democracy is the form of government in which the supreme power lies
with the people and is exercised by them directly or indirectly through a
system of representation elected regularly through a process of fair and
free elections.” Another dictionary of Cambridge defines it as “democracy is
the belief in freedom and equality, or the system of government based
on this belief in which power is utilized by people directly or through
elected representation.” In short, democracy is that forms of government in
which affairs are run through collectively elected representatives based on the
principle of equality and freedom, tolerance and cooperation, accountability and
transparency, collectivity and power decentralization are some of the principles
of democracy.
Unlike many other systems, democracy is the best form of government,

however, democracy too has some limitations and restrictions which affects it’s
growth, benefits and sustenance. Among these factors, illiteracy is the prime
cause of detriment to democratic system. Illiteracy, like a frightful witch, clips
off the wings of dove of democracy, till the time it dies its own natural death.
Many ground realities explains the fact that democracy and illiteracy cannot
move together.
The very first fact that democracy and illiteracy cannot move together is that,
the electorate, unaware of political, social and national interest elect, those
whose weak and unwise decisions leads towards chaos and deprivation. The
electors, unaware of their rights cannot force the elected to take right decisions
in the interest of nation and keep them at right track. Thus, despite a
democratic government the system remain deprived of competent and suitable
persons, who can run the affairs more efficiently.
Low voter turns out that is a detrimental impact on democracy, is due to
the poor literacy rate. Developed countries where education ratio is up to 80
and 90 percent also has vote turnout of 80 to 90 percent. These values are
shown by few research center and organization of fair and free election.
However, the literacy rate in Pakistan is about 60 percent and likewise, the
voter turnout is also almost 60 percent. This relation shows that literacy rate
and democracy are almost proportional to each other. The poor ratio of voter
turnout creates less cooperation and coordination. Further-more, it downplays
the faith and confidence of public on elected government representatives, thus
democracy remains unable to move hand in hand with literacy and
development.
The elected leaders get to these seats by means of every kind of unfair
means like feudalistic coercion, job promises and distributing money in return of
vote to illiterate electors; while lacking their true prudence, smartness,
credentials, vision, farsightedness, maturity and broadmindedness. The mature,
farsighted and literate representatives are only elected by educated society. In
Pakistan, until the imposition of minimum condition of graduation for election,
many of politicians were unable to even read their own name. And, people like
them are until now present in Parliament, who depends on other to read the
agenda of legislative session. So, how can these illiterate elected politicians
deliberate on making good policies for nation to make them compete with other
nations.
Illiteracy turns the tide of democracy towards a monarchic single leader
party system. This system does not let democratic norms to evolve and
strengthen its roots. The democratic system of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and
other countries closely validates this fact. The public and party worker, blindly
follow their single leader and then their offspring, without knowing that, either
he is capable of running state affairs or not. Such type of democracy impedes
even the fundamental rights of citizens.
Illiteracy promotes an environment of backwardness, poverty,

unemployment and other socio-economic evils in a society. This system of
illiterate society develops a perpetual system of vote selling for a few coins and
supporting those candidates who fulfil their economics need, are the few
manifestations of such type of societies. Political candidates find there a “vote
market” where they buy some votes with money. The people thus elected are
always in search of different ways to earn back their money, increase their bank
balance and offer lucrative jobs to their incapable relatives. Such practices, in
turn, promote hostilities and blame game among self-interested politicians,
leaving ignored national issues and developmental policies.
Undeserved and uneducated politicians elected by the illiterate masses

make myopic policies which are; irresponsible and biased thinking of a single
person. these policies do not retain inclusiveness , rational decision, a clear
vision and evaluation, as these may only be prepared if the team has the
required knowledge and they analyze the short-comings of existing system. The
reactive rather than proactive responses of this system which is deprived of
think tank, creates imbalance, chaos, deprivation and grievances. Such type of
non visionistic policies can be portrayed from 1950’s, when other sectors of
country’s economy were almost ignored and only industrial sector was
promoted, which caused a sense of deprivation in the people of East Pakistan.
Later, in 1970’s a impracticable policy of nationalization and then in 1990’s a
policy of rapid privatization was adopted. These policies have not only
aggravated the issues of national economy but also alienated the poor provinces
and people of the country.
Yet another effect of illiterate society and their elected leaders is that the
policies created are purely based on producing class disparities. Power is kept in
hand of few, who showers economic benefits on some of their allies while
keeping the general masses away from development. This cycle of feudalistic
culture, appoints legitimacy to them for life long. The illiterate society feels
secure and safer under this feudalistic and colonial structure. Looking back into
the history of Pakistan one can clearly notice the slowly rising socio-economic
indicators of the country as well as the behavior of politicians to not devolve the
power. And every time, when they tried to hold all the powers under their
thumb, huge protests or dictatorship strangled the country and pushed it in to
the back alleys of authoritarianism derailing demo.
Unaware of responsibilities of state and their own right, the illiterate society
cannot pursue the practice of accountability. Despite every system and
mechanism of a constitutionalized accountability these rogue leaders clinches
every opportunity to loot the wealth of the nation by unlawful methods. And,
when they are caught by chance, then, either they are sent abroad for few
years or left free by plea bargains, National reconciliation orders or amnesty
schemes. At the worse stage, they make themselves critical patient and runs
away from country for medical treatment. These circumstances give way to
general public discontent and they welcome the martial laws, as a miracle to
free them of this debacle. The superior courts also justified these martial laws
because they thought that only martial law can bring stability and accountability
Women empowerment is the key to politico-economic and socio-cultural

development, but an illiterate, society do not want to let go off their outdated
patriarchal norms. They make every effort to resist the liberation of women
from the depths of backwardness and privation. Thus they keep away the major
portion of society to take part in the evolution of their nation-state. Unable to
perform in productive working sectors of a country, the deprivation,
backwardness and anti-democratic environment prevails.
Proving beyond doubt that illiteracy and democracy can’t move together, there
are some caused for poor literacy in different parts of the world. Among these
caused, one is economic incapacity poor countries do not possess enough
financial resources to completely eradicate illiteracy. While the 99 percent
literacy rate and stable democratic systems are only found in developed
countries like America, Canada, Japan, UK and many other. On other side poor
developing countries like Pakistan spends a little more than 2 percent of their
GDP on education.
Inadequate educational policies of government are not farsighted and

thus cannot combat the scourge of illiteracy. Ground realities are totally
ignored, which cannot help to achieve target issues like medium of education,
syllabus structure, qualified teachers and improved infrastructure are rarely
considered in policies. All of these situations combine to force children towards
labor, fanaticism, begging and extremism
Some of the bad practices of socio-cultural norms and misinterpretation of

religion also hampers the society from getting education. In many parts of the
world as well as in our own country these norms prevent male in general and
female in Particular from acquiring education. Schools are blown, on the
grounds of mooting un-Islamic values. Women are barred from taking part in
social learning and performing. The result is that whole new generations are
pushed into darkness of illiteracy.

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“Democracy and Illiteracy cannot Move Together”

 Rise of authorization rule

7. Factors which leads to Illiteracy and dictatorship:

8. Recommendation to eradicate Illiteracy and promote a stable democratic

Referring to the democratic system of the world as a peak of human’s

The basic principle basis of democracy is popular Sovereignty. Abraham

Unlike many other systems, democracy is the best form of government,

Illiteracy promotes an environment of backwardness, poverty,

Undeserved and uneducated politicians elected by the illiterate masses

Women empowerment is the key to politico-economic and socio-cultural

Inadequate educational policies of government are not farsighted and

Some of the bad practices of socio-cultural norms and misinterpretation of

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