 The centrally sponsored "District Primary Education Programme", launched in 1994, had opened more than 160,000 new schools by 2005, including almost 84,000 alternative schools.The bulk of Indian illiterates live in the country's rural areas, where social and economic barriers play an important role in keeping the lowest strata of society illiterate.Government programs alone, however well-intentioned, may not be able to dismantle barriers built over centuries.