UDUPI : Udupi district is all set to be declared a “fully literate” district, marking an important milestone in its ongoing adult education drive that began last year to identify and educate illiterate individuals across gram panchayats.
Sources in the Adult Education Office said declarations confirming complete literacy have been received from Kaup, Karkala, Hebri, Brahmavara and Byndoor taluks. Udupi and Kundapur taluks are expected to submit their declarations shortly. Once these are received, the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) will declare Udupi a fully literate district.
Officials said that according to Central government norms, a region is considered completely literate when it achieves a literacy rate of 95% or above.
This benchmark is treated as equivalent to 100% literacy. “We are now completing the formalities through taluk panchayat executive officers,” sources informed. Udupi district has a total of 158 gram panchayats, all of which have submitted reports indicating near-total literacy.
The final step involves consolidation of declarations by taluk panchayat executive officers (EO) and submission of it to the ZP Chief Executive Officer for official approval.
The achievement follows a focused intervention by the adult education office, which had earlier identified 1,246 illiterate adults and enrolled them in special four-month literacy courses in the district. Conducted by the Adult Education Office, the programme used tailored learning materials to impart basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills, with participants assessed at the end of the course.
Officials noted that the initiative largely benefited adults and elderly individuals who had missed formal schooling in their younger years.
The success of the programme has helped bridge literacy gaps at the grassroots level and improve civic participation. Yoganarasimha Swamy K M, District Adult Education Officer, Zilla Panchayat, Udupi, told TNIE that two textbooks — ‘Balige Belaku’ and ‘Savi Baraha’ which were specially designed for educating adults — were used to ensure the district becomes fully literate.
Those in need of the course had approached their local gram panchayats who helped out, he added. In contrast, close to eight months ago, 45 out of 158 gram panchayats in the district were yet to be declared as completely literate, making this an enormous achievement.
This story has been written by Prakash Samaga of The New Indian Express.
