Kolkata, April 23: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today questioned Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s statement about ‘deterioration’ of the standard of education in Bengal, and said the literacy rate was higher than that of the national average.
The expelled CPI(M) leader, who hit the campaign trail for his erstwhile party this evening at Ballygunge, said “I have good relations with the Prime minister. I respect him.
But I am hurt and surprised at his comment on education in the state.”
He said the recent census report mentioned that national average of literacy rate was 74 per cent, while that of West Bengal was 77.08 per cent.
“In women’s education, the national average is 65.5 per cent, but in West Bengal it is 71.16 per cent,” he said.
—PTi