Silchar/Aizawl, Oct. 14: It may be the tiniest state of the Northeast, but Mizoram is aiming to be the country?s biggest achiever in literacy.

Over a century after two Welsh missionaries, Savidge and Lorrain, kindled interest in education among the Mizos, the state is pushing itself hard to wrest the epithet of ?most literate state? from Kerala.

Mizoram education minister R. Lalthangliana said the sustained campaign to spread adult literacy, non-formal education and primary education was bearing fruit. ?Hopefully, we will surpass Kerala by the end of this year.?

The state has been in the reckoning for the top slot for a few years now, but what has made policy planners optimistic is the tremendous success of the literacy campaign in the rural belt. Literacy among the Mizo population was pegged at a high of 88.49 per cent ? only a shade lower than Kerala?s 90.92 per cent ? during the 2001 national census.

The state?s most significant achievement has been reducing the male-female literacy gap to 4.56 per cent, which is lower than Kerala's 7.45 per cent.

Lalhmachhuana, additional project director of the Total Literacy Mission, said a survey was being conducted to arrive at the exact literacy percentage. The exercise is expected to be completed later this month.

?Since the government has set itself the target of surpassing Kerala in literacy, we are very careful about how we go about collecting data. We are actually doing a headcount of all children of schoolgoing age but not attending school,? Lalhmachhuana said.

Education department officials believe the scenario would have been even better but for the relatively slow pace of literacy growth in Lawngtlai district. Lawngtlai?s 56 per cent pales in comparison with the literacy rates of the other districts, which hover in the range of 85 to 90-odd per cent.

The additional project director said the Zoramthanga government was paying special attention to all four districts where the literacy rate was below 90 per cent. The other three districts are Lunglei, Mamit and Saiha.

What makes the success of the literacy campaign in Mizoram more creditable is the fact that the state began the process later than most. It was only after 20 years of insurgency ended that Delhi began to pump in funds for the spread of education.