GUWAHATI: Tripura was on Monday declared a ‘fully literate’ state, becoming the third in the country to achieve this milestone after Goa and Mizoram.
Chief Minister Manik Saha made the announcement based on data from the ‘Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society’ (ULLAS) initiative. He described it as a historic milestone in Tripura’s journey towards literacy and a proud moment for its people.
“Tripura has become the third state in the country, after Mizoram and Goa, to achieve full literacy. The state’s literacy rate now stands at 95.6%,” the Chief Minister said.
“This achievement has been made possible through the effective implementation of the New India Literacy Programme ULLAS in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. I congratulate my brothers and sisters of Tripura on this historic occasion,” he posted on X.
ULLAS is a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at promoting lifelong learning and literacy among adults aged 15 and above who missed out on formal education. It seeks to empower them with foundational literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills, in line with NEP 2020.
Reflecting on Tripura’s literacy journey, Saha said the state had made significant progress over the decades. The literacy rate was a mere 20.24% in 1961. Despite many challenges, it rose to 87.22% by the 2011 Census, making Tripura the third most literate state at the time, after Kerala and Mizoram.
The literacy rate further increased to 93.7% in 2023–24 and now stands at 95.6% for 2024–25, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey reports.
As per central government norms, a state or Union Territory is considered “fully literate” when it crosses the 95% literacy threshold.
Saha also noted that earlier literacy programmes were largely limited to teaching basic signature skills. However, the government has now moved beyond that approach, focusing on functional literacy to equip learners with real-life skills.