Several states in India have executed successful programmes to boost literacy rates. Over time, a set of factors have emerged as being key to success: official will to succeed, deliberate steps to engage the community in administering the programme, adequate funding for infrastructure and teachers, and provisioning additional services which are considered valuable by the community (such as free school lunches).
Bihar literacy challenges
Bihar has significantly raised the literacy rate as per the 2011 census. The literacy rate has risen from 39% in 1991 to 47% in 2001 to 63.8% in 2011. The Government of Bihar has launched several programmes to boost literacy, and its Department of Adult Education even won a UNESCO award in 1981.
Extensive impoverishment, entrenched hierarchical social divisions and the lack of correlation between educational attainment and job opportunities are often cited in studies of the hurdles literacy programmes face in Bihar. Children from "lower castes" are frequently denied school attendance and harassed when they do attend. In areas where there is no discrimination, poor funding and impoverished families means that children often cannot afford textbooks and stationery.
When children do get educated, the general lack of economic progress in the state means that government jobs are the only alternative to farm labour, yet these jobs, in practice, require bribes to secure - which poorer families cannot afford. This leads to educated youths working on the farms, much as uneducated ones do, and leads parents to question the investment of sending children to school in the first place. Bihar's government schools have also faced teacher absenteeism, leading the state government to threaten withholding of salaries of teachers who failed to conduct classes on a regular basis. To incentivise students to attend, the government announced a Rupee 1 per school-day grant to poor children who show up at school.
Tripura literacy successes
According to the 2011 census, literacy level was 93.91 percent in Kerala and 91.58 percent in Mizoram, among the most literate states in the country. The national literacy rate, according to the 2011 census, was 74.04 percent. The Tripura success story is attributed to the involvement of local government bodies, including gram panchayats, NGOs and local clubs under the close supervision of the State Literacy Mission Authority (SLMA) headed by the chief minister. Tripura attained 87.75 percent literacy in the 2011 census, from the 12th position in the 2001 census to the 4th position in the 2011 census. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said that efforts were underway to literate leftover 5.35 percent people and achieve complete success in a state of about 3.8 million people. The programmes were not just implemented to make the state literate but as long-term education programmes to ensure all citizens have a certain basic minimum level of education. Tripura has 45 blocks and 23 subdivisions that are served by 68 government-run schools and 30-40 private schools. Among projects implemented by the state government to increase literacy in the state are
Total literacy drive for people aged between 15 and 50 who have lost the chance of entering formal education fold. A special programme - titled improved pace and content learning (IPCL) - has been designed to provide basic education to such people.
10,000 aaganwadi centers have 100 percent enrollment.
Policy of no examination till class VIII to prevent children from dropping out.
Midday meals in all schools with an eclectic menu for all days of the week to attract more students.
No tuition fee in government colleges.
The holistic education system, implemented with equal interest in Agartala, remote areas and the tribal autonomic areas, makes sure that people in Tripura do not just become literate but educated, officials emphasized. One pointer to the government's interest in education is the near-total absence of child labour in Tripura.
Kerala literacy successes
Kerala has the highest literacy rate among the states of India, followed by the state of Mizoram. Kerala topped the Education Development Index (EDI) among 21 major states in India in year 2006-2007. More than 94% of the rural population has access to primary school within 1 km, while 98% of population benefits one school within a distance of 2 km. An upper primary school within a distance of 3 km is available for more than 96% of the people, whose 98% benefit the facility for secondary education within 8 km. The access for rural students to higher educational institutions in cities is facilitated by widely subsidised transport fares. Kerala's educational system has been developed by institutions owned or aided by the government. In the educational system prevailed in the state, schooling is for 10 years which is subdivided into lower primary, upper primary and high school. After 10 years of secondary schooling, students typically enroll in Higher Secondary Schooling in one of the three major streams--liberal arts, commerce or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students can enroll in general or professional undergraduate programmes. Kerala undertook a "campaign for total literacy" in Ernakulam district in the late 1980s, with a "fusion between the district administration headed by its Collector on one side and, on the other side, voluntary groups, social activists and others". On 4 February 1990, the Government of Kerala endeavoured to replicate the initiative on a statewide level, launching the Kerala State Literacy Campaign. First, households were surveyed with door-to-door, multistage survey visits to form an accurate picture of the literacy landscape and areas that needed special focus. Then, Kala Jāthas (cultural troupes) and Sāksharata Pada Yātras (Literacy Foot Marches) were organised to generate awareness of the campaign and create a receptive social atmosphere for the programme. An integrated management system was created involving state officials, prominent social figures, local -officials and senior voluntary workers to oversee the execution of the campaign.
Himachal literacy successes
Himachal Pradesh underwent a "Schooling Revolution" in the 1961-2001 period that has been called "even more impressive than Kerala's." Kerala has led the nation in literacy rates since the 19th century and seen sustained initiatives for over 150 years, whereas Himachal Pradesh's literacy rates in 1961 were below the national average in every age group. In the three decadal 1961-1991 period, female literacy in the 15-19 years age group went from 11% to 86%. School attendance for both boys and girls in the 6-14-year age group stood at over 97% each when measured in the 1998-99 school year.
A key factor that has been credited for these advances is Himachal's cultural background. Himachal Pradesh is a Himalayan state with lower social stratification than many other states, which enables social programmes to be carried out more smoothly. Once the Government of Himachal Pradesh was able to establish a social norm that "schooling is an essential part of every child's upbringing," literacy as a normal attribute of life was adopted very rapidly. Government efforts in expanding schools and providing teachers were sustained after the 1960s and communities often responded very collaboratively, including with constructing school rooms and providing firewood essential during the Himalayan winters.
Mizoram literacy successes
Mizoram is the second most literate state in all of India, second only to Kerala, with Serchhip and Aizawl districts being the two most literate districts in India (literacy rate is 98.76% and 98.50%),both in Mizoram Mizoram's literacy rate rose rapidly after independence: from 31.14% in 1951 to 88.80% in 2001. As in Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram has a social structure that is relatively free of hierarchy and strong official intent to produce total literacy. The government identified illiterates and organised an administrative structure that engaged officials and community leaders, and manned by "animators" who were responsible for teaching five illiterates each. Mizoram established 360 continuing education centres to handle continued education beyond the initial literacy teaching and to provide an educational safety net for school drop-outs.
Tamil Nadu literacy successes
One of the pioneers of the scheme is the Madras that started providing cooked meals to children in corporation schools in the Madras city in 1923. The programme was introduced in a large scale in 1960s under the Chief Ministership of K. Kamaraj. The first major thrust came in 1982 when Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M. G. Ramachandran, decided to universalise the scheme for all children up to class 10. Tamil Nadu's midday meal programme is among the best-known in the country. Starting in 1982, Tamil Nadu took an approach to promoting literacy based on free lunches for schoolchildren, "ignoring cynics who said it was an electoral gimmick and economists who said it made little fiscal sense." The then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, MGR launched the programme, which resembled a similar initiative in 19th century Japan, because "he had experienced as a child what it was like to go hungry to school with the family having no money to buy food".
Eventually, the programme covered all children under the age of 15, as well as pregnant women for the first four months of their pregnancy. Tamil Nadu's literacy rate rose from 54.4% in 1981 to 80.3% in 2011. In 2001, the Supreme Court of India instructed all state governments to implement free school lunches in all government-funded schools, but implementation has been patchy due to corruption and social issues. Despite these hurdles, 120 million receive free lunches in Indian schools every day, making it the largest school meal program in the world.
Rajasthan literacy successes
Although the decadal rise from 2001-11 was only 7% (60.4% in 2001 to 67.1% in 2011) Rajasthan had the biggest percentage decadal (1991-2001) increase in literacy of all Indian states, from about 38% to about 61%, a leapfrog that has been termed "spectacular" by some observers. Aggressive state government action, in the form of the District Primary Education Programme, the Shiksha Karmi initiative and the Lok Jumbish programme, are credited with the rapid improvement. Virtually every village in Rajasthan now has primary school coverage. When statehood was granted to Rajasthan in 1956, it was the least literate state in India with a literacy rate of 18%.
Social commentary
Apart from above, the corporate sector in India has pitched in with the aim of improving literacy, primarily in villages around their factories. For example, J K group has helped so far 29,000 plus citizens of India, mostly village women, to move towards literacy - which means being able to sign their name / read sign boards & handle money, in local languages in eight different states. TATA group claims to have added approximately 250,000 literates using their Computer Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) method.