More than 76 lakh illiterates in Gujarat, admits state government

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat government has admitted in the Assembly that as on August 2014, there were more than 76 lakh illiterates registered in the state.

During the ongoing Budget session in the Assembly, Congress MLA Tejashree Patel asked the government to reveal the figures of illiterates registered in the state and what steps are taken to make them literate. She also asked the government to provide a definite time-line to do so.

In his written reply submitted yesterday, State Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said that as on August-2014, there were around 76.58 lakh illiterates in the state.

Some of the districts having more number of illiterates than others include Banaskantha (6.15 lakh), Ahmedabad (5.98 lakh), Surat (5.01 lakh) and Vadodara (4.84 lakh).

Counting various measures to bring down the count of illiterates, the Minister stated that state government is running separate classes for illiterate adults.

Further, citizens are made aware of the benefits of education through various means of audio-visual publicity, stated his reply.

On the question of giving a definite time-line to achieve 100 per cent target, Chudasama stated that no such time-frame can be given, as illiterate people can be made literate only if they show zeal and willingness to learn.