Folk singer Malini to boost women literacy in UP

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh government has named folk singer Malini Awasthi as the brand ambassador for Sakshar Bharat Mission. It is for the first time that a brand ambassador was being named to promote literacy programme in UP.
District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) principal, Lalita Pradeep said: The UP government was determined to appoint a woman to boost women literacy.After the success of UP polls where Malini was the brand ambassador for the UP Election Commission, the task of promoting literacy was given to her.''
Pradeep added that Malini will be creating awareness about the importance of female literacy among women living in rural and semi-urban districts with the help of folk songs and music. Malini would begin her campaign from Shravasti district which has the lowest female literacy rate of 37.07%. She would begin her campaign in the month of October.
As per the 2011 census, literacy rate in UP is much below the national figure. The total literacy rate of UP is 69.72% against the national figure of 74.04%. The female literacy rate is 59.26% against national female figure of 65.46%. But between 2001 and 2011 census, UP took a big leap. The literacy growth in the country was pegged at 9.26% against UP's 13.42%. Among females, UP women showed an improvement of 17.06% against national figure of 11.79%.
Shaksar Bharat Mission scheme began on October 1, 2009 and would end on march 31, 2012. It is aimed to bring literacy rate to 85% and bring down the gender gap of literacy from staggering 19.98% to 10%.