Gujarat's New CM Anandiben Patel's on a mission to raise literacy rate

According to the 2011 census, Kerala tops the literacy rate with 93.9 % and is pursued by Lakshwadeep with 92.3 % and Mizoram with 91.6%

Even states and Union Territories like Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu bordering Gujarat, Chandigarh bordering Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, NCR and Puducherry have literacy rates of around 85 %

Literacy Rate Male and Female India 2011 Census

	States/UT	Total Literates	Male Literates	Female Literates	Total Literacy Rate	Male Literacy rate	Female Literacy Rate
	INDIA	77,84,54,120	44,42,03,762	33,42,50,358	74.04	82.14	65.46
01	Jammu & Kashmir	72,45,053	43,70,604	28,74,449	68.74	78.26	58.01
02	Himachal Pradesh	51,04,506	27,91,542	23,12,964	83.78	90.83	76.60
03	Punjab	1,89,88,611	1,06,26,788	83,61,823	76.68	81.48	71.34
04	Chandigarh #	8,09,653	4,68,166	3,41,487	86.43	90.54	81.38
05	Uttarakhand	69,97,433	39,30,174	30,67,259	79.63	88.33	70.70
06	Haryana	1,69,04,324	99,91,838	69,12,486	76.64	85.38	66.77
07	NCT of Delhi #	1,27,63,352	72,10,050	55,53,302	86.34	91.03	80.93
08	Rajasthan	3,89,70,500	2,41,84,782	1,47,85,718	67.06	80.51	52.66
09	Uttar Pradesh	11,84,23,805	7,04,79,196	4,79,44,609	69.72	79.24	59.26
10	Bihar	5,43,90,254	3,27,11,975	2,16,78,279	63.82	73.39	53.33
11	Sikkim	4,49,294	2,53,364	1,95,930	82.20	87.29	76.43
12	Arunachal Pradesh	7,89,943	4,54,532	3,35,411	66.95	73.69	59.57
13	Nagaland	13,57,579	7,31,796	6,25,783	80.11	83.29	76.69
14	Manipur	18,91,196	10,26,733	8,64,463	79.85	86.49	73.17
15	Mizoram	8,47,592	4,38,949	4,08,643	91.58	93.72	89.40
16	Tripura	28,31,742	15,15,973	13,15,769	87.75	92.18	83.15
17	Meghalaya	18,17,761	9,34,091	8,83,670	75.48	77.17	73.78
18	Assam	1,95,07,017	1,07,56,937	87,50,080	73.18	78.81	67.27
19	West Bengal	6,26,14,556	3,45,08,159	2,81,06,397	77.08	82.67	71.16
20	Jharkhand	1,87,53,660	1,11,68,649	75,85,011	67.63	78.45	56.21
21	Orissa	2,71,12,376	1,53,26,036	1,17,86,340	73.45	82.40	64.36
22	Chhattisgarh	1,55,98,314	89,62,121	66,36,193	71.04	81.45	60.59
23	Madhya Pradesh	4,38,27,193	2,58,48,137	1,79,79,056	70.63	80.53	60.02
24	Gujarat	4,19,48,677	2,39,95,500	1,79,53,177	79.31	87.23	70.73
25	Daman & Diu	1,88,974	1,24,911	64,063	87.07	91.48	79.59
26	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	2,28,028	1,44,916	83,112	77.65	86.46	65.93
27	Maharashtra	8,25,12,225	4,62,94,041	3,62,18,184	82.91	89.82	75.48
28	Andhra Pradesh	5,14,38,510	2,87,59,782	2,26,78,728	67.66	75.56	59.74
29	Karnataka	4,10,29,323	2,28,08,468	1,82,20,855	75.60	82.85	68.13
30	Goa	11,52,117	6,20,026	5,32,091	87.40	92.81	81.84
31	Lakshadweep	52,914	28,249	24,665	92.28	96.11	88.25
32	Kerala	2,82,34,227	1,37,55,888	1,44,78,339	93.91	96.02	91.98
33	Tamil Nadu	5,24,13,116	2,83,14,595	2,40,98,521	80.33	86.81	73.86
34	Puducherry	9,66,600	5,02,575	4,64,025	86.55	92.12	81.22
35	Andaman & Nicobar Islands #	2,93,695	1,64,219	1,29,476	86.27	90.11	81.84

With 79 %, Gujarat ranks 16th in terms of literacy rates.

"In most sectors - foreign investment, industry, infrastructure and others - Gujarat comes within the top five states, but it is way behind in education

Gujara CM Anandiben Patel, who began her career as a teacher and went on to become a school principal, told senior Cabinet colleagues, top bureaucrats, collectors and police officers, during a meeting that she wants her state to compete with Kerala in the education sector.

So, besides the on-going school enrolment drive called Praveshotsav, which was launched by former chief minister Narendra Modi and which Anandiben Patel is continuing, the state education department will start a literacy survey among people in the age group of 15 and 31 years next month. 

Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel has also ordered the tracking of children from pre-school up to Class VIII, including English in 8,500 schools, and providing Internet connectivity in 6,000 schools. 

Attention will also be paid to step up literacy rates among women. 

The government has identified 14 districts with literacy rates of less than 50 %, and focus will be placed on these areas first. 

Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel has ordered that internet connectivity be provided in 6,000 schools