The high incidence of illiteracy among the minor communities in southern districts of the state is attributed as the major cause of Mizoram’s inability to achieve the top rank.
Take the case of the Chakmas, inhabiting southernmost parts of the state bordering Bangladesh, who constitute over eight per cent of the states population have very low rate of literacy.
According to the 2001 Census, only 45.3 per cent of Chakmas were literate against commendable 95.6 per cent literacy rate among the majority Mizos.
Even though the statistics in the 2011 Census are yet to be released, sources said that the literacy rate among the Chakma community has not improved much from the 2001 Census.
Although the literacy rate of the Brus (also known as Reangs) is yet to be officially released, it is popularly believed that the Brus are far behind to Chakmas in terms of development and education.
The three districts of Lawngtlai, Lunglei and Mamit, which have substantial population of minorities like Chakmas and Brus, were the main target of the Rapid Action Total Literacy Campaign, launched by the state government last few years with an aim to become number one in literacy.
According to official figures made public during the launching of RATLC in Lunglei last year, there were 12,129 illiterate people in Lawngtlai district followed by 4,200 in Lunglei district and 2,845 in Mamit district.
Mizoram School Education Minister Lalsawta has stated that these three districts had scored very poor rate during the 2001 general census and are still behind other districts of the state regarding the literacy rate.
Although Mizoram has failed to top, Serchhip and Aizawl districts of the state have topped all other Indian districts with literacy rates of 98.76 per cent and 98.50 per cent respectively.
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