Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram has said that the government is implementing various schemes to increase the literacy rate among Scheduled Tribes. He said the literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes remains lower than that of the overall population. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Mr Oram said, over the years there has been a significant improvement in ST literacy and the gap is gradually narrowing. He said the Department of School Education and Literacy has been implementing Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan since 2018-19 to bridge the gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education. The Minister said, the Scheme also focuses on the identified Special Focus Districts based on adverse performance on various indicators of enrolment, retention, and gender parity.