Kerala declared 1st state to attain Total Primary Education

Vice President Hamid Ansari today declared Kerala as the first state in the country to attain 'Total Primary Education', and described the achievement as 'historic.'
"I believe that the date today is as historic for Kerala as April 18, 1991, the day Kerala was declared to be a fully literate state," he said.
"Kerala has set a model for the rest of the country to follow," the Vice President said.
Noting that the achievement was another feather to the state's educational cap, he said the state was marking the successful culmination of its 'Athulyam' programme aimed at ensuring Total Primary Education in Kerala -- equivalent to Standard IV of formal education.

"This is the fructification of the continuing efforts under the Total Literacy Campaign through the well-planned and executed post-literacy activities and the Continuing Education Programme by the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA) under the Government of Kerala," he said.
Ansari also said this remarkable educational achievement was a result of the enlightened political leadership of Kerala, the dedication of its public functionaries and the people of state who have come to value the importance of education.

The declaration marks the culmination of the second phase of the 'Athulyam' Class 4 equivalency programme -- for people aged between 15 and 50 -- run by KSLMA.

Ansari said Kerala achieved progress in social and other sectors mainly due to the importance it gave for education.
The impressive march of Kerala on the education and various other socio-economic fronts has been due to what Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has called "the constructive and combative roots of its historical background", he said.
He lauded the contribution of religious reformers such as Sree Narayana Guru and other social organisations such as Nair Service Society, Muslim Educational Society (MES) and Christian missionaries, saying they also helped in inculcating and sustaining spread of education as a social movement.
"The remarkable performance of Kerala on the various socio-economic indicators, which approximate more those of the developed countries than developing ones, is a testimony to the transformative nature of mass education," he said.

'Athulyam' is a programme launched by the literacy mission after the success of the total literacy campaign in the state. Under the programme, 2,40,804 learners were identified out of which 2,05,913 learners were brought to the classes after out-reach programmes.