Bihar has the lowest literacy rate in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to Ministry of Education.

The literacy rate in rural India is 67.77 per cent as compared to 84.11 per cent in urban India, it said.

The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Education, Annapurna Devi in response to a written question in Lok Sabha.

“Samagra Shiksha scheme envisages the school as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels.

“The states and UTs are assisted by the central government to implement the Samagra Shiksha as a programme for providing universal access and retention, bridging the gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning level of children at all levels of school education,” Devi said.

According to the data shared by the Ministry of Education, Bihar (61.8 pc) has the lowest literacy, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (65.3 pc) and Rajasthan (66.1 pc).

Kerala has the highest literacy rate (94 pc) followed by Lakshadweep (91.85) and Mizoram (91.33 pc), it said.

The ministry said to improve the literacy rate among adults in the country, a centrally sponsored scheme of Adult Education Saakshar Bharat.

It said the scheme was implemented in the rural areas of 404 districts in 26 states and one Union Territory, that had adult female literacy rate of 50 per cent and below as per Census 2001, including left wing extremism affected districts…, the ministry informed the House.

“The target was to raise the overall literacy rate of the country to 80 per cent and reduce gender gap to 10 per cent point by the end of XII five year plan.

“The scheme was extended up to March 31, 2018. During the implementation of Saakshar Bharat scheme, against the overall target of making 7.00 crore adult non-literates as literates, around 7.64 crore learners who passed the biannual Basic Literacy Assessment Tests conducted by National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) between August, 2010 to March, 2018, were certified as literates,” said Devi.

Source: PTI