Plans to achieve 100 % literacy rate by 2011

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

COLOMBO: The Ministry of Education plans to achieve a 100 per cent literacy rate by 2011.

This was revealed by Education Minister Susil Premajayantha yesterday at the Ministry auditorium.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education will launch two main initiatives to achieve this target. Under the first step, the parents of all children who are over three years will be motivated to send their children to preschools.

After pre-school education the Ministry will direct the children to the school system. At the second step the Ministry will take measures to help illiterate elders.

This programme will be launched by the Informal Education Unit of the Ministry of Education.

According to the Minister of Education, this programme will cover all nine provinces and bring every student over three years to the school system.

It has been revealed that 70 per cent of people involved in crimes are illiterate. When a child is directed to school it is not only to educate the child but also help to bring down the crime rate, the Minister pointed out.