India to achieve 80% literacy rate by 2015: Raju

NEW DELHI: The government today said it is hopeful of achieving 80 per cent literacy rate by 2015.

"Our efforts are being upscaled and I see no difficulty in achieving 80 per cent literacy rate by 2015," Human Resource Development Minister M M Pallam Raju said at a function here.

He also expressed confidence that India will achieve full literacy in another decade.

Inaugurating the international conference on achieving literacy for all, Raju said over 20 crore people have become literates since the last Census of 2001 out of which more than half of them are females.

He said his ministry is restructuring the adult education system with a paradigm shift to lifelong education.

Raju said an appropriate administrative and, if required, legislative process will be initiated to integrate formal, non-formal and informal learning and to formally recognise all forms of education other than formal.

He said recognition, validation and accreditation of learning obtained through adult education will be formalised by setting up equivalency framework.

UN Resident Coordinator Lise Grande, who was also present, complimented India for fighting illiteracy and making achievements in the field of education sector.

She said more than 70 crore people across the world do not know reading, writing and arithmetic and most of them are in India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.