Dist one of most educationally backward regions in country with literacy rates as low as 1.76 pc The Haryana government has chalked out a programme to check the drop-out rate and improve educational level in Mewat district, one of the most educationally backward regions in the country. The overall literacy rate in Mewat is appallingly low as compared to the rest of the country. For Muslim women in Mewat, the literacy rate is 1.76 per cent to 2.13 per cent, the lowest in the country. The literacy rate for Muslim men also falls below the national average and ranges between 27 to 33 per cent. With a view to give special thrust on imparting education, the Mewat Development Agency (MDA) has decided to open 4,000 education centres in backward areas of the district. Around a thousand such educational centres were opened in the last financial year, while another thousand centres would be opened during 2008-09. The rest of the centres would be opened in the years to come, said sources. The Haryana government has upgraded the levels of 187 primary schools to the level of middle schools. As many as 785 schools, four degree colleges, seven industrial training institutes and vocational education institutes were functioning in the Mewat areas. As much as 50 per cent of the seats had been reserved for the majority of local residents, known as Meos, in the technical institutes in Mewat district. The Haryana government had decided that a committee would be constituted by the village panchayat for the supervision of those teachers who remained frequently absent from duty, which was adversely affecting the performance of the Meo students. The committee had been empowered to appoint a former student of the school hailing from the same or neighbouring village, having required qualification as teacher, in place of the absentee teachers. The government has also made a provision for checking the dropouts in schools and efforts are being made in this regard to set up primary schools in the radius of one kilometre and middle school in the radius of two kilometres so that educational facilities could be made available within the approach of poor students. The Haryana government had earlier announced a number of incentives to attract students belonging to the Scheduled Castes under a scheme known as "Mukhya Mantri Scheduled Caste Chhatra Siksha Protasahan Yojana'. The Dr Ambedkar Medhavi Chhatra Yojana too has been implemented in the region to raise the educational status of students.