Agartala, March 17: A nationwide survey requisitioned by the Centre has disclosed bitter facts about the primary education system in Tripura where the state government aims at total literacy within six months through a special drive.

The ruling Left Front’s claim to success in school education by achieving 81 per cent literacy was torn to shreds by a chapter on Tripura in the “Annual status of education report-2009 (rural)” released last week by Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal at Trimurti Bhawan in Delhi.

According to the report, only 19.5 per cent of students between Classes I and III in Tripura can read English sentences while 52.2 per cent of them can read books meant for Class I students. Besides, 75.9 per cent of rural students between Classes IV and VIII take private tuition.

More amazing is the students’ skill in numbers as 57.3 per cent of students of Classes III and V know subtraction while 24.1 per cent know division sums.

The survey requisitioned by the Union HRD ministry was conducted in Tripura by four NGOs under the guidelines issued by the National Sample Survey.

In West Tripura, the survey was conducted by Adibasi Mahila Samity while in South Tripura, by NGOs Agragati and Dishari.