NEW DELHI: The Centre has set a target of achieving 100 per cent literacy in the villages adopted under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana by March 2016.
The HRD ministry is collaborating with the MPs who have adopted villages located in 410 districts. It has made an appeal to state and district representatives to take pledge for their respective operational areas.
“We have written to the MPs requesting them the villages they have identified under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, we will make such villages 100 per cent literate by March 2016,” HRD Minister Smriti Irani said.
She was speaking at the International Literacy Day function where Tamil Nadu was felicitated as the ‘best performing state’ by the President Pranab Mukherjee. Three districts have won best performing district award - Bastar, Chhattisgarh, Dharampuri, Tamil Nadu, Haveri, Karnataka. While the best performing gram panchyat award has been bagged by
Palamalai, Salem District, Tamil Nadu; Giroud, Raipur District, Chhattisgarh; Poosarlapadu, Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh; Ankireddygudem, Nalgonda District, Telangana; Khanggabok Part - II, Mayai Leikai , Thoubal District, Manipur.
The HRD minister made an appeal to literacy functionaries and officials to spread the message to honour women in family and only then one would be considered as literate and educated.
Irani congratulated the literacy functionaries and volunteers and said that it is a matter of prestige that in the last 15 months a record number of 2.28 crore learners have been made literate. “Efforts of literacy functionaries deserve appreciation and require to be stated in figures and it must be mentioned that very recently and in a short span of one month, they have mobilised and facilitated around 92.7 lakh beneficiaries to avail benefits of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna,” the minister said.
She said national policy on education is being revised and for the revised policy, she requested one and all to suggest ways and means to achieve the goal of universal literacy.
President Pranab Mukherjee in his speech regretted that India still lagged behind some of its neighbours in achieving 100 per cent literacy. Mukherjee noted that literacy alone can bring development, empowerment and sustainability and achieve desired goals set under the Saakshar Bharat and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan programmes.
He also stressed on the need for greater “societal involvement” in achieving higher literacy target and reminded of the UNESCO slogan of ‘each one teach one’, saying by adopting such strategy, “it will be possible for us to fulfil the dream of ‘Sakshaar Bharat, Swachh Bharat’ and the Bharat of our dream”.
Without literacy, India cannot claim its pride of place among the comity of nations, he underlined.
“From 18 per cent in 1951 to 72.5 per cent in 2011, we are still behind. Many of our sister developing countries including those in South Asia have almost 100 per cent literacy rate.
“While we have fixed a target of 80 per cent literacy in country by end of 12th Five Year plan, we have to ensure that the gender gap in literacy should not be more than 10 per cent,” he said.
The President congratulated all those who had received Saakshar Bharat Awards for their outstanding contribution to the adult literacy programme and said without literacy it is not possible to bring about total empowerment.