India is to achieve 80% literacy rate by 2015: Govt; Times of India, July 18, 2013

NEW DELHI: India is to achieve 80% literacy rate in the next two years. This was stated by the HRD minister, MM PallamRaju, while inaugurating an international conference on achieving literacy for all. The literacy rate of India is 73% at present as per the 2011 Census. Raju said that more than 20 crore people have become literates since the last Census of 2001 out of which more than half of them are females. To achieve the goal of 80% literacy by 2015, the minister said that the HRD Ministry is restructuring the entire adult education system in the country with a paradigm shift to lifelong education. He announced that an appropriate administrative and if required legislative process will be initiated to integrate formal, non-formal and informal learning and to formally recognize forms of education other than formal. He clarified that recognition, validation and accreditation of learning obtained through adult education will be formalized by setting up equivalency framework.