MAHOTTARI: Bardibas Municipality in Mahottari has been declared a literate local level, becoming the fourth local government in the district to achieve the status.
Madhesh Province Minister for Labour and Transport Sharada Thapa announced the declaration during a programme held in Bardibas on Saturday.
Under the literacy criteria, at least 95 percent of the population aged 15 to 60, excluding school-going children, must be literate for a local level to be recognised as a literate municipality.
According to Chief of the Municipality’s Education Section, Rewati Prasad Parajuli, Bardibas has a total population of around 75,000. Of them, about 25,000 students are enrolled in the formal education system across 80 schools within the municipality. Among the 46,526 people aged 15 to 60, a total of 45,332 have met the prescribed literacy standards.
Chief of the Education Development and Coordination Unit, Nirmal Ghimire, said local governments in the district have recently intensified literacy programmes as part of a campaign to declare 60 percent of Mahottari’s local levels literate by the fiscal year 2083/84 BS (2026/27 AD).
Mahottari has 15 local levels, comprising 10 municipalities and five rural municipalities. Prior to Bardibas, Manara Shisawa, Matihani and Jaleshwar had already been declared literate local levels.
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