One of the main reasons why India is trailing behind the rest of the world today is because of the high rate of illiteracy in the country.

Following the United Nation's declaration of 1990 and 1991 as the 'Literacy Years', the Government of Gujarat introduced a program to make the District of Bhavnagar totally literate. Our volunteers worked in villages for months to achieve a 100% literacy rate in the district.

In 1993, over 1,500 of our volunteers carried out a 100 % literacy drive in the district of Kheda in Gujarat. They fanned out conducting 842 different classes and courses to teach men and women from all walks of life. The project resulted in 8,162 people learning to read and write.

One person who became literate in the village of Pansora voiced, "We are grateful to the men and women volunteers of BAPS who taught us at night. We now realize the importance of literacy in our life. Many of us earn our livelihood through labor. We did not even know how to count and we were often cheated. Now, thanks to this program, we will no longer be cheated."