VIJAYAWADA: Minister for HRD and IT Nara Lokesh has directed officials to intensify the Akshara Andhra programme and work collectively to achieve 100 per cent literacy in the State by September 2027.
Reviewing the functioning of the School Education and Intermediate Education departments on Tuesday, Lokesh said the Akshara Andhra initiative, launched last year, was producing encouraging results.
He said AP’s literacy rate was only 72.6 per cent in 2024, among the lowest in the country. However, government initiatives over the past year had helped around 25 lakh people become literate. Officials informed the Minister that the Centre had appreciated the State’s efforts in achieving such a significant improvement in literacy within a year.
Officials said plans were in place to make another 25 lakh people literate by March 2027 and the remaining 27 lakh by September 2027.
Lokesh called for the active participation of MLAs and local elected representatives in the Akshara Andhra programme.
Intermediate Education Commissioner Ranjit Basha informed the Minister that the State had recorded good results in the Intermediate second-year examinations this year. Admissions had increased by around 10,000 compared to the previous year, he said.
He added that Intermediate students across the State had already received around Rs 1,051 crore in financial assistance under the Thalliki Vandanam scheme. Arrangements were being made to extend the benefit to first-year Intermediate students shortly.
Lokesh said there were still 1,64,821 out-of-school children in AP and called for concerted efforts to bring all of them into the formal education system.
School Education Director Tameem Ansariya said around 33,000 out-of-school children had been enrolled in schools this year. Teacher attendance had improved significantly and currently stood at 98.97 per cent, while student attendance was 85.41 per cent, she said.
Lokesh directed officials to further improve student attendance. If a student remained absent for three consecutive days, parents should be called to the school and counselled, he said.