Kerala, one of India's most literate states, now also boasts of being the first to achieve 100% primary education, education minister PK Abdu Rabb said.
Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari will make it official on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Kerala University Senate Hall in Thiruvananthapuram, according to reports.
“Kerala has become the first state in the country to achieve total primary education. This has been achieved through the primary education equivalency drive of the state literacy mission — Athulyam. The equivalency programmes have proved a huge success and the ultimate objective is to achieve total Plus-Two education in the state," TOI quoted Rabb as saying.
The second phase of the state literacy mission, Athulyam, offered a chance to those who have missed an opportunity to receive primary education due to various reasons. They could now achieve the education qualification equivalent to fourth standard.
The report said that those between 15 and 50 were beneficiaries of the programme and were identified through family registries prepared by anganwadis under the social justice department.
A 2011 government census put Kerala's literacy rate at 93.91%.
Last year, approximately 2.6 lakh candidates appeared for the 4th standard equivalency examinations in June that were held in over 6,000 centres across Kerala. As many as 2.2 lakh candidates passed the exam.
Contact HuffPost India
Also see on HuffPost: