International Literacy Day 2026: Himachal Pradesh to be honoured for achieving full literacy
With a literacy rate of 99.5 per cent, Himachal has the second-highest literacy rate in the country after Goa
Himachal Pradesh will be honoured for achieving full literacy at a function to mark International Literacy Day in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Education Minister Rohit Thakur will be the guest of honour at the event, organised by the Ministry of Education. With a literacy rate of 99.5 per cent, Himachal has the second-highest literacy rate in the country after Goa.
Thakur said the achievement was particularly significant as Himachal had one of the lowest literacy rates after Independence. “While the national literacy rate was around 13 per cent, Himachal’s was just about 5 per cent. The journey from the lowest literacy to full literacy is remarkable,” the minister said.
Crediting successive governments for investing heavily in education, Thakur said that foundation was laid by the state’s first Chief Minister Yashwant Singh Parmar. “Despite limited resources, successive governments spent 18 to 20 per cent of the state budget on education in the 1960s and 1970s. This was much higher than Punjab and Haryana, despite the two states being economically better off,” he said.
With literacy no longer a challenge, Thakur said the focus must now be on quality education and improving the functioning of government schools and colleges. “Reducing political interference in education, particularly transfers, to minimum is the first and mandatory step to further improve the quality of education,” the minister said.
Besides, he said, there should be a proper transfer policy and fixed tenures for teachers. “There should be no transfers during the academic session. And there should be regular appointments, with no backdoor entries,” he said.
Pointing out that many colleges have a strength of just 40-50 students and the government had to shut, merge and downgrade around 1,500 schools due to poor enrolment, the minister said that educational institutions should be opened strictly on the basis of need, not political considerations.
“Government schools have lost four lakh students over the last 15 years. It’s a huge loss and challenge for us. We need to carry out these reforms if we want to save government schools,” he said.
