Date:25/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/11/25/stories/2004112515350500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Naidu wants concerted efforts to achieve total literacy

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, NOV. 24. The former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday urged all sections of a literate society to join hands and achieve the goal of 100 per cent literacy in the country.

At the inaugural of the weeklong 15th anniversary celebrations of the S.G.S. Siddhanthi Educational Society and Colleges, he said that according to the Census 1991, the country had a literacy of 44 per cent. It had risen to 61 per cent in 2001 and touched 75 per cent in 2004.

While the growth was indeed appreciable, it was imperative that 100 per cent of the population became literate, he said, recalling that the biggest contributor to the growth of developed nations was 100 per cent literacy.

Greatest gift

"Education was the greatest gift for mankind," he said and referred to the strides made on the education front in the past decade. He said the number of engineering seats had risen to 80,000 from 8,000 during the TDP rule. The number of medical seats too had increased manifold, he said.

"Indians are second to none and all they need to be given is education and opportunity", he said, adding that one out of four software professionals in the USA was an Indian.

He told the girl students in the audience that women were in no way inferior to men and urged them look for role models and emulate them. "College is where the future of a student is decided. You should be clear as to what you want to be, after college", Mr. Naidu said.

Others present at the S.G.S. Siddhanti College for Women were - the Secunderabad Cantonment MLA, G. Sayanna and former Minister, T. Srinivas Yadav. Former Congress leader and correspondent of the Educational Society, P.L. Srinivas, presided.