Lokesh says Andhra literacy jumped to 82.10% and now sits above the national mark

Human Resource Development and Information Technology Minister Nara Lokesh on 2 September 2026 put a sharp number on Andhra Pradesh’s literacy drive: 72.60 percent in 2024 to 82.10 percent in 2026, against a national figure of 80.9 percent.

He said that when he took the HRD portfolio, Bihar stood at 74.30 percent and Andhra at 72.60 percent — a comparison meant to show the State climbing past both its own baseline and a Hindi-heartland benchmark. Akshara Andhra, launched last year by the NDA government, had made about 25 lakh people literate, he said.

The target is 100 percent literacy by the end of September 2027. He spoke of another 25 lakh people by March 2027. Other published remarks from the same review put the remaining load at about 27 lakh by September 2027. He asked that MLAs and local representatives be pulled into the campaign — a political instruction as much as an education one: literacy booths need booth-level muscle.

On children, he cited 1,64,821 school-age children still outside the formal system, about 33,000 enrolled this year, and the remaining details to be pushed to headmasters through the LEAP app. Teacher attendance was put at 98.97 percent and student attendance at 85.41 percent. He directed autism centres at 125 locations and spoke of mental development and stress-free learning.

The 2 September remarks came in a review of School Education and Intermediate Education. Intermediate second-year results were described as good, with admissions up by about 10,000. If a student is absent for three consecutive days, parents are to be called to the school.

Literacy percentages are a political weapon because they compress years of adult-education camps, school enrolment and survey method into a single decimal. Crossing the national 80.9 percent mark lets the Minister claim Andhra has moved from below Bihar to above India in two years. The 100 percent September 2027 target then becomes a calendar the Opposition can audit. If 25 lakh people became literate in the first year of Akshara Andhra, the next 25 lakh by March 2027 and the remaining about 27 lakh by September 2027 are the arithmetic of the finish.

What the public record does not yet show in this pack is a district-wise table of the 82.10 percent, a named examination board beyond the Intermediate review, or a published methodology note for how the 2024 and 2026 literacy figures were counted. This cutting does not invent those. It records Lokesh’s figures, the Akshara Andhra claim, the out-of-school child count, LEAP, attendance percentages, 125 autism centres, and the three-day absence rule.

For parents, the three-day call to school is the most concrete line: attendance 85.41 percent means a large daily absence, and the Minister wants that absence to produce a meeting, not a remark in a register. For headmasters, LEAP is the channel through which the remaining 1,64,821 minus about 33,000 out-of-school children are supposed to acquire names and follow-up. For MLAs, the literacy target is now a constituency assignment, not only a Secretariat slide.

The political reading is straightforward. Nara Lokesh is using HRD numbers — literacy, Intermediate admissions, teacher attendance — as proof of NDA delivery two years into office. The desk reports the numbers as stated on 2 September. It does not certify the 82.10 percent as a census finding, and it does not invent exam-board names that were not published.