Team Herald
PANJIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday said that the State which has literacy rate of 94 per cent as of today will be declared 100 per cent literate state by Statehood Day which is on May 30.
Speaking after inaugurating ULLAS MELA 2025, New India Literacy Programme, he said, " As of now, around 94 per cent of people in Goa are literate. We aim to achieve 100 per cent literacy by May 30, on Goa Statehood Day."
The Chief Minister said the initiative to identify illiterate persons and give them basic literacy lessons has been initiated under the New India Literacy Programme of Government of India.
Exams are conducted through The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to ascertain that they have gained basic literacy, he said and added that the program is open for persons from Goa as well as other states.
Interestingly, Chief Minister had announced in the month of July last year that the Goa government is aiming to declare the State as 100 per cent literate by December 19, 2024.
He had said that efforts were on to educate the illiterate population which was around two per cent in the State.
Barring the three talukas of Quepem, Canacona and Sanguem, illiterate population in the rest of Goa has been identified and trained, the CM stated.