Agartala, Sept. 9: Tripura has at long last achieved the highest rate of literacy in the country at 94.65 per cent and has now overtaken Kerala (93.91).

Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar disclosed this at a function on World Literacy Day yesterday.

He said the survey had been conducted by experts of the Indian Statistical Institute, a central government agency, and results of 4,600 answer scripts are yet to be made available.

“If these answer scripts yield satisfactory results, our literacy rate will go up to 95.5 per cent,” the chief minister said.

He asserted that in terms of literacy, Tripura is now ahead of Kerala, Lakshwadeep, Mizoram and Goa.

The chief minister said even a decade ago, Tripura trailed in 14th place in the country in terms of literacy. But 10 years of sustained efforts have catapulted Tripura to first place.

“In the 2011 census, we had achieved literacy rate of 87.72 per cent. Then we initiated efforts to reach 100 per cent literacy and this is the result,” Sarkar said.

He regretted that of the targeted 1,31,634 illiterate people in the state, only 1,06,000 had taken part in the literacy mission.

Otherwise, the state would have achieved 100 per cent literacy by now.

The evaluation of the newly literates had commenced from August 10 and altogether 8,152 teachers and guides had conducted this under the auspices of the ISI.

The chief minister expressed satisfaction that the women outnumbered their male counterparts among the new literates.

The chief minister said his government would not rest till the state achieved 100 per cent literacy.

He also appealed to all those working in the literacy mission to continue their efforts.

A pleasant surprise is the high rate of literacy in Dhalai district, dominated by indigenous people.

According to data provided by the principal secretary, department of education, Banamali Sinha, 97 per cent of Dhalai district’s residents are literate.

Sinha was speaking at an official programme at Ambassa, headquarters of Dhalai district, yesterday.

He asserted that after achieving 100 per cent literacy rate, the priority of the education department and state government would be to achieve “high level of quality” in the education sector.