Task 2: Two schemes launched and promoted by the government for women's education. REPORTTwo schemes launched by the Indian government to promote women's education are: Saakshar Bharat Mission for Female Literacy Saakshar Bharat was an initiative launched by prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on September 8, 2009 in New Delhi. It was launched to create a literate society through a variety of teaching learning programmes for non-literate and neo-literate people of 15 years and above. It is a centrally sponsored scheme with the aim to focus on the mission to educate women. Their goal is to reduce the gap between male and female literacy to not more than 10 percentage points. The principal target of the mission is to impart functional literacy to 70 million non-literate adults in the age group of 15 years and beyond. This scheme was idealized from the Department of School Education,Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Government of India. TheNational Literacy Mission alsocovered 597 districts under Total Literacy Campaign, 485 districts underPost Literacy Programmeand 328 districts underContinuing Education Programme. As per 2001 census, over 127 million adults have been made literate of which 60% were women, 23% were SC and 12% were ST. The Saakshar Bharat Mission has chosen six villages for 'Model Adult Education Centres' under Lok Shiksha Samiti in the Karimnagar district, in Telangana statewith the objective of promoting adult education and to achieve total literacy. The mission has four broader objectives, namely imparting functional literacy and numeracy to non-literates, acquiring equivalency to formal educational system, imparting a relevant skills development programme, and to promote a better society by providing opportunities for continuing education. Adult education aims at extending educational options to those adults, who have lost the opportunity and have crossed the age of formal education, but now feel a need for learning of any type, including literacy, basic education, skill development and equivalency. At present there is at least one adult education centre in each district in every village. LET US HOPE FOR A BETTER AND MORE EDUCATED SOCIETY FOR THE YEARS TO COME.Mahila SamakhyaMahila samakhya is a women's movement which has transformed the lives of women in 14000 villages in 60 districts of nine states of India. the Mahila Samakhya Scheme was started in 1989 to translate the goals enshrined in the NPE into a concrete programme for the education and empowerment of women in rural areas particularly those from socially and economically marginalized groups. It means education for women's equality. It Started as an awareness program by the Ministry of HRD in pursuance of the National Policy on Education in 1986. today, it has entered in the area of education, health, human rights and governance with the objective of creating a gender just society. The MS scheme recognizes the centrality of education in empowering women to achieve equality. The Mahila Sanghas which are the focal points of the upsurge, run schools, dispensaries, banks, markets and participate in Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Mahila Sanghas or women's collectives at the village level provide the women a space to meet, reflect, ask questions and articulate their thoughts and needs and make informed choices. The Mahila Samakhya Scheme is currently being implemented in nine States namely., Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand spread over 33 districts and covering more than 21,000 villages. The guiding principle of the programme is the centrality of education in empowering women to achieve basic equality. It strives to make women aware, empowered, capable and self-reliant. The Mahila Samakhya strategy has been adopted by other states also such as Haryana where women agitated successfully against alcoholism, in Himachal Pradesh where they demonstrated against polygamy and in Tamil Nadu where they protested against 'Devadasis'. In general they have taken up issues such as dowry , voilance against women, infanticide, child labor. 'Didi banks', 'Kishori Sanghas', 'Jago Behna', are some of the other offshoots of the MS. The Mahila Sanghas though various programmes and awareness campaigns have brought about a change in the outlook of rural women and the effects can how be seen in various facets of life at home within the family, the community and at the block and Panchayat levels. The programme has also focused on awareness of the need to educate the children, especially girls, to give the equal status and opportunities which has resulted in a direct impact on enrolment and retention of girls in schools. The programme has helped generate a demand for literacy, increased women recognition and has given women the strength and ability to demand accountability and transperancy from the government. A number of evaluation studies have indicated the effectiveness of the programme which is Gandhiyan both in concept and implementation.This scheme is the finest example of what is called the non-formal system of empowering women at almost no cost. It will be relevant in this connection to quote from the National Policy of Education which states:"Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of women. In order to neutralize the accumulated distortions of the past, there will be a well conceived edge in favor of women. The national system will play a positive interventionist role in the empowerment of women. In will develop new values through re-designed curricula, text-books, the training and orientation of teachers, decision-makers and administrators, the active involvement of educational institutions". This will be an act of faith and social engineering. Women's studies will be promoted as a part of various courses and educational institutions encouraged to take up active programmes to further women's development. Major emphasis was on to be laid on women's participation in vocational, technical and professional education at different levels. The policy of non-discrimination was to be pursued vigorously to eliminate sex-stereotyping in vocational and professional courses and promote women's active participation in non-traditional occupations, as well as in existing and emergent technologies. Mahila Samakhya has been particularly successful in targeting out-of-school girls by working with the community to create learning opportunities in alternative centres, residential camps and early childhood development centres. The programme has been supported by State government, UNICEF, World Bank and others.MAY THE WORLD BECOME MORE AND MORE EMPOWERED AND STAND UP AGAINST THE SOCIAL CRIMES OF THE WORLD IN THE COMING YEARS.