Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 27 (IANS): Kerala has registered over one lakh people becoming literate in the last three years, the Kerala State Literacy Mission claimed on Saturday.

The new literates from various sections of society include tribals, fisherfolk, SC/ST and also the migrant population.

Mission director P.S. Sreekala said that from 2017 to 2020, a total of 1,05,565 new literates have emerged in the state.

"The hard work put in by our team among the weaker and downtrodden sections of the society has now yielded results," said Sreekala.

They include 10,972 tribals from Wayanad and Palakkad, besides over 30,000 living in over 2,000 colonies while close to 4,000 migrant labourers also successfully passed the examinations and over 8,000 from various fishing villages in the state.

Another highlight of this programme was when Bhageerathi Amma and Karthiyayini Amma were given the Nari Shakti Puraskar awards in March this year as the former is 105 and also became the oldest student in the country, while the latter is 98.