100 per cent literacy in five years: Javadekar

Illiteracy would be eradicated from India in five years, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said. As part of efforts to achieve that, the students of classes 6 to 12 would be roped in and trained to teach their illiterate parents and grandparents at home, he added.

"In five years, there will be no illiteracy in India. When we got freedom, our literacy rate was just 18 per cent. It is close to 80 per cent today and with the introduction of a noble concept, there will be no illiteracy in the country in the next five years," said Javadekar.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 'Festival of Education', jointly organised by the Rajasthan government and Gems Education India. Talking about roping in youngsters, Javadekar said, "It will be a moment of pride for the students as well as their parents or grandparents."

He added that the enrolment target in the state-run schools had been achieved all over the country and the government would now focus on imparting quality education in these schools.

Currently, the state-run schools follow a no-retention policy and promote all the students up to class 8. Javadekar expressed hope that the government's efforts to improve the quality of education would result in a “healthy competition” between the state-run and private schools in the next five years. The keynote address was delivered by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Minister of Culture of UAE.