Chandigarh: When 90-year-old Vimla Devi slowly made her way down the steps of Tagore Theatre, dragging herself because she cannot walk, the moment captured the spirit behind the city’s latest milestone. Vimla Devi, who lives in Khuda Lahora, cannot write any more as her hands no longer function well. But at 90, she has learnt something she never had the chance to before, to read.Her story was among the many celebrated as Chandigarh recorded a 99.93% literacy rate, making it one of the few regions in the country to reach near-universal literacy. The education department of Chandigarh administration marked the achievement with a felicitation ceremony for newly-literate citizens under the ULLAS-Nav-Saksharon ka Alankaran Samaroh.The event was attended by governor Gulab Chand Kataria, who described the moment as historic. He said the initiative had helped the Union Territory cross the 95% literacy benchmark set under the National Education Policy 2020, raising the literacy rate from 93.7% to 99.93%.According to officials, 15,556 citizens enrolled in the programme and 14,711 successfully cleared the literacy assessment. Women’s literacy saw a particularly sharp rise, increasing from 90.7% to 99.89%.Among the newly literate were Baldev Singh and Lachhmi Kaur, a couple in their 80s who passed the literacy assessment together. Their son, a journalist, watched proudly as his parents demonstrated the reading and writing skills they had recently acquired.“He is proud that now his parents can read and write,” said Baldev Singh.For Aarti Yadav, 39, learning was about independence. Originally from Uttar Pradesh and now living in Manimajra, she joined the literacy programme along with four friends. The group learnt Hindi and basic mathematics from the same teachers who teach their children at school.“If we can learn cooking and sewing as life skills, why not reading and writing?” she said. For many mothers like her, literacy now means being able to help their children with studies, and stepping into a new sense of independence.Educators across the city played a crucial role in reaching non-literate residents. Neelu Sharma, an educator in Sector 29, said teachers personally mentored learners. “Every teacher adopted two to three persons and trained them for four to five months,” she said.The initiative also introduced learners to basic digital literacy, enabling many elderly participants to use UPI for payments and move around the city independently. Officials credited the success to the combined efforts of the Chandigarh administration, teachers, volunteers, NGOs and social organisations who worked to identify and train non-literate citizens.
