31 May, 2025:
Marking a big step forward in its journey toward inclusive and quality education, Goa has officially been declared a fully literate state by the Ministry of Education under the ULLAS (Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society) initiative. Goa, which gained statehood in 1987 after being a Union Territory, has become the second state after Mizoram to be declared fully functionally literate.
Goa has achieved a literacy rate of 99.72 percent higher than Mizoram’s 98.2 percent, surpassing the Union Ministry of Education’s 95 percent benchmark to qualify as fully literate. Mizoram was declared fully literate just 10 days earlier, on May 20.
Speaking on the occasion of the 39th Statehood Day, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant described this achievement as the “Historic Milestone”. Sawant said, “Goa is now a fully literate state under the ULLAS Nav Bharat Programme. Our sustained collective efforts to strengthen the education sector with New Advancements, NEP 2020 have yielded the result”.
Goa has reached a literacy rate of 99.5%. “Out of 6,299 identified illiterate individuals, 2,136 have received training. So far, 82 Panchayats have achieved 100% literacy, while the rest report literacy rates well above the national benchmark of 95%,” said Director of the State Council for Education, Research and Training (SCERT) Meghana Shetgaonkar.
The literacy campaign started by identifying 2,981 non-literate learners across Goa’s twelve talukas. These learners received training through schools, with support from Resource Adult Trainee Coordinators (RATCs), educators, and student volunteers. To enhance adult education, the state introduced ULLAS primers in Konkani, Marathi, Hindi, and English, focusing not only on reading and numeracy but also on financial literacy and essential life skills.
