Guntur: People of the Valmiki Boya community have been told to become literate for leading a better life by making the best of all the government schemes being implemented for their welfare.

AP State Backward Classes Welfare department secretary B. Udayalakshmi was speaking at the inaugural of the Valmiki Jayanthi celebrations at Venkateswara Vignana Mandiram in Guntur on Thursday. She asked that Valimiki Boya youth to enroll themselves in the NTR Higher Education Scheme and civil services, APPSC group 1 and 2 coaching programmes and make use of them.

She said that education is the best option to go for to prosper in life and urged the people to ensure their children were literate. She said that the AP government was offering Rs10 lakh for an individual to pursue higher education in foreign universities and urged the youth of the Valmiki community to use the above the schemes for their benefit. Ms Udayalakshmi said it was for the first time that the government was organising the Valmiki Jayanthi celebrations officially as a state festival.