New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee Monday asked the private sector, especially the corporate houses, to contribute towards eradicating illiteracy in India.

"The success of our march towards total literacy in India will ultimately depend on two factors. One is meaningful and effective advocacy and, secondly, cooperation and support of society at large, to bring non-literates into the mainstream of literacy," he said.

Mukherjee was speaking at a function here to mark International Literacy Day.

"I call upon state governments, panchayati raj institutions on one hand and on the other, I appeal all the stakeholders in a resurgent India - the corporate and private sectors, voluntary agencies and civil society organisations - to work together, in unison and with greater vigour to realise this goal."

The president said SCs, STs, minorities and other disadvantaged groups have much lower literacy levels.

"The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and other disadvantaged groups, which constitute a sizeable part of our population, have very lower rates of literacy.

"There is, thus, an urgent need to focus attention on these groups to help them to catch up so that we can move faster towards the national targets," he said. "Gender disparity in literacy is another important challenge," he said.

Meanwhile, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said the central government was committed to make more women, SCs, and STs literate.

"It is the foremost concern of our government to substantially improve literacy rates of women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities," Irani said.

International Literacy Day was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The day aims to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.