State to undertake drive to achieve 100 per cent literacy

The state mass education department is going to undertake a literacy drive in the city in order to achieve 100 per cent literacy rate. Siddiqullah Chowdhury, the minister-in-charge of the mass education and library services department on Thursday said that he would sit with Kolkata’s Mayor and the senior ministers to discuss on how the 100 per cent literacy mission could be implemented in the city.

The purpose of the meeting was to identify the pockets where the drive should be undertaken. The department has a target to achieve 100 per cent literacy rate in other districts as well. A campaign would be conducted in all the state so that everyone can become literate.

The minister was talking to the media at the sideline of the golden jubilee year celebration of International Literacy Day on September 8 at Rabindra Sadan. He also said that in next 2-3 years his department has a target to make 10 lakh people literate.

Around 12 lakh men and women have registered their names in the 9 districts where literacy rate is comparatively low. Among the total 12 lakh, around 11.27 lakh people have appeared in the examination, of which around 60 per cent are women.

The state government is planning to cover around 12 lakh people under the literacy drive within March next year. “Following the instruction from the Chief Minister to ensure there is not a single illiterate person in the state, our department has been taking up various initiatives to achieve the goal.

Around 1,364 Lok Siksha Kendra was set up at 9 districts to spread awareness and make the programme a success. Two officials will be there at each center to monitor the progress of the literacy drive.

Bengal has its literacy rate at 78 per cent. East Midnapore tops the list in term of literacy rate while Purulia has the lowest literacy rate.

The state government is giving an emphasis on a special literacy drive among the physically challenged and backward classes.

State panchayat and rural development and public health engineering Minister Subrata Mukherjee who was also present at the programme also delivered the inaugural lecture on the occasion.

Over 1000 participants took part in a rally organised from Esplanade on the occasion. While talking at the programme Mukherjee said: “The state mass education department has been doing a fantastic job to achieve 100 per cent literacy drive. Achieving the goal is difficult but not impossible. 

I hope that the state government would achieve 100 per cent literacy drive in next few years.”