By educating over 30,000 illiterates within five months under Padho Doon Badho Doon campaign, the Dehradun has became the first district in Uttarakhand to achieve the 100 percent literacy rate.
Dehradun District Magistrate Ashish Kumar Srivastava disclosed this at an event organised by district administration on Sunday to felicitate those who contributed to the Padho Doon Badho Doon campaign including counsellors, education officers and representatives of volunteer organisations.
Referring to the campaign, DM said that the administration started this campaign to provide basic education so that every person can at least read, count numbers and write or sign their name and nobody remains ‘Anguthachap‘. He pointed out that the administration started this campaign at the time during Covid-19 pandemic when it was difficult to convince people to study but it was made possible with the teamwork of various departments and organisations. The chief development officer (CDO) Nitika Khandelwal who was heading this campaign stated that local residents from over six years to over 85 years old were educated under the campaign while adding that the enthusiasm of senior citizens towards getting the education was very inspiring and appreciable.
Informing about the campaign, Khandelwal said that a total 35,261 people were registered as illiterates through the survey conducted by Anganwadi workers out of which, 30,207 locals have been educated while the remaining 5,054 locals could not receive any education. These remaining locals include those who are indisposed, dead, migrated to other locations, mentally unstable and those, whose names got registered twice during the survey.
Meanwhile, DM said that though the district has a 100 percent literacy rate excluding those who couldn’t get educated under the campaign, the administration will conduct a third-party audit too to verify the level of education received by the 30,207 locals and will rectify any shortcomings found along the way. On the basis of this audit, the administration will declare Dehradun as a fully literate district of Uttarakhand, said officials.
However, the officials also stated that volunteer organisations will not stop teaching students if students wish to continue their education. DM said that it is a continuous process and such people who do not live currently in the district but will return in future will be educated too through such organisations. The DM also stated that after achieving the target of 100 percent literacy rate in the district, the administration now aims to eradicate malnutrition from Dehradun for which the planning will be commenced very soon.
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
