With the country’s literacy rate climbing to 74 per cent according to the provisional data of the 2011 census, the government has now set its eyes on high literacy states to achieve the 100 per cent target during the 12th Plan period.
A working group set up to formulate plans for elementary education and literacy during the Five-Year Plan period has been asked to suggest measures and ways such as “incentivising” the states with high literacy rates to achieve complete literacy.
The incentivisation programme could be targeted to states where literacy level stands at more than 85 per cent, an official from the human resource development (HRD) ministry said.
Kerala has a literacy level of 93.91 per cent while Lakshadweep comes next with a literacy rate of 92.28 per cent. Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Chandigarh, national capital territory of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands have achieved literacy rate of above 85 per cent, said the provisional census.
The 12th Five-Year Plan period between 2012 and 2017 could also see greater involvement of the state governments through restructuring of literacy programmes.
“The working group would also suggest measures for faster reduction of illiteracy in the country with emphasis on gender, regional and social dimensions,” said the official, disclosing terms and references of the group.
The group is expected to finalise its report by September 30 this year.
According to the provisional census data released on April 1 this year, India’s literacy level has increased by 9.21 per cent in the past 10 years to reach 74.04 per cent.
Elated over the progress made, HRD minister Kapil Sibal had expressed confidence that the country could achieve total literacy in the next 10 years.
The Census, he also underlined, has shown India would be able to achieve education for all in the age group of 6-14 by 2015.
The working group would also suggest modification in educational indicators, computation of education index that capture ground reality and also suggest measures for improvements in management of educational statistics at district, state and at national level.
It would also recommend improving implementation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan harmonised with the right to education, the official said.
