It was disappointing that despite making great progress in various fields like IT and digitization, India still has the largest number of illiterate persons in the world, said Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu here on Sunday while urging people to come forward and supplement the government’s work in the field of adult education.

He further called for urgent steps to address this challenge and stressed making literacy drive a people’s movement.

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“Every educated youth in villages and colonies should come forward and teach at least one person from their localities or communities how to write and, how to operate digital devices and how to avail themselves of benefits of government schemes,” the Vice President said.

‘Each one-teach one’ should not merely remain a slogan, rather it should become a motivating force for the youth, he said. The Vice President also advised schools to encourage their students to begin adult education drives in their areas on weekends. “Students should be given some extra marks for such activities,” he said.

Noting that high rates of literacy are directly related to a country’s economic progress and the quality of life of its citizens, the VP said in a developing country like India, literacy is even more important as it helps in better implementation and outcome of various developmental programs.

Literacy not only instills confidence in a person but also helps in making one’s social life more active and dignified, the Vice President said. “We need to move forward from universal functional literacy to skill education and lifelong learning,” he added.