TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2005 12:08:12 AM  ]

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are in close  contest to be the most illiterate state of the country. Together the two states  account for 61 (40%) of the 150 low literacy districts in the country.UP with 31  districts and Bihar with 30 districts top the chart.

The rest of the  low literacy districts are spread over Jharkhand (13), Rajasthan (11), Orissa  (10), Madhya Pradesh (9), Andhra Pradesh and J&K (8 each), Arunachal Pradesh  (7), Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and West Bengal (4 each), Assam and Meghalaya (3  each), Gujarat and Nagaland (2 each), and Punjab (1).

These districts have become the focus of a special drive  by the HRD ministry. To begin with the ministry has sanctioned projects in  Rajasthan, Orissa, and Jharkhand. In the next two months, officials say, it  would sanction projects for 75% of the districts. "The remaining districts would  be taken up next year," one official said.

One of the measures to deal with rising illiteracy in  these districts is to share best practices in states which have been successful.  For instance, during the recent meeting of state education secretaries,  Karnataka made a presentation of its literacy programme called 'Kalika-Galika (Learn While You Earn)'.

The programme covered eight lakh illiterate women who were members of self-help groups. As a result of this programme, these women have started maintaining accounts and reading government notices.

The example from Rajasthan, says the HRD official, has been more successful. Last year, the state organised 10,786 female literacy camps of 15 days' duration. In these camps, women of a locality learnt primers.

"Since they were staying together, motivation was high and learning became easier. During these camps, a doctor was called to teach them about hygiene among women and children, a veterinary doctor taught them about animal husbandry," says the official.

In this programme, 2.68 lakh illiterate women were covered. So much so that in the next 'examination' conducted to gauge how much the people covered had learnt, out of the 93,130 candidates, 62,387 were women.