Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala village has become the first in the country where the entire population is educated at least till Class IV.

Nilambur panchayat (village council) in Malappuram district in north Kerala is the first village to have achieved the feat under a Kerala State Literacy Mission programme called Jyothirgamaya, aimed at spreading non-formal education in the state.

Kerala Governor R.L. Bhatia will make a formal announcement in this regard at Nilambur in the presence of top political leaders and officials on Tuesday.

In January 2007, the mission conducted a survey and found out that nearly 1,608 people in the village - out of a population of 39,000 - had not passed Class 4. Of these nearly 900 were illiterates.

"We conducted classes at 142 study centres with the help of 350 teachers to educate the identified students and the classes began in March last year," Aryadan Shoukat, president of the Nilambur panchayat, told reporters here on Saturday.

Classes were held for Maths, English, Malayalam and Environment, for two hours every day.

"Examinations were conducted under the supervision of the mission officials," said Shoukat.

With the Nilambur experiment a success, the mission is planning to replicate it in at least three other Kerala villages.

"We have already begun this programme in select villages in the state and we propose to have it in every village council with financial support from the council and funds from the centre," said mission director D. Jayadevan.

"We plan for the next phase of classes till the seventh standard and all those interested can participate," said Shoukat, who is an award winning filmmaker and son of Congress legislator Aryadan Mohammed. IANS