New India Literacy Programme

 The Government of India approved the New India Literacy Programme scheme for the fiscal years 2022-2027 that will cover all areas of adult education and match with the national education policy 2020.

Overview:

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has announced the ‘New India Literacy Programme’ for the next five years, to cover all aspects of adult education. The ministry has decided to use the term ‘Education for All’ instead of ‘Adult Education,’ because the previous term didn’t represent all non-literates who are in the age group of 15 years and above.

This programme is expected to cost Rs 1037.90 crore between 2022 and 2027, with the central government providing Rs 700 crore and the states providing Rs 337.90 crore, respectively.

Implementation of the scheme

Through volunteerism, in an online mode, this newly launched scheme will be implemented. Face-to-face training, workshops and orientation for volunteers will be arranged. All available information and resources will be made available digitally so that registered volunteers can easily access them via digital channels such as radio, television, portals and mobile phone-based free open-source apps.

The Ministry of Education will be the implementing ministry of this scheme.

The objective of the scheme

This scheme’s objectives are to teach not only foundational numeracy and literacy, but also critical life skills such as digital literacy, financial literacy, awareness and health care, commercial skills, education and child care, and family welfare. Vocational skills development will also be focused upon so that obtaining local employment becomes easier and basic education including preparatory, middle, and secondary education.

Education courses in sciences, arts, culture, technology, recreation, and sports as well as various other areas of interest to local learners, such as more advanced material on key life skills, are also to be included under this programme.

The target of this scheme

The target for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for FY 2022-27 is five crore learners using the Online Teaching, Learning, and Assessment System (OTLAS), which was developed in collaboration with NCERT, the National Informatics Centre, and NIOS and allows a learner to register with essential information such as date of birth, name, Aadhaar number, gender and mobile number.

Mass movement for literacy

 

COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted perils of illiteracy. Government’s Padhna Likhna Abhiyan aims to mobilise people to make the country totally literate by 2030

Literacy is the beginning of lifelong learning, a prerequisite for accessing other human rights. It has the power to change the lives of millions of people who have received adequate formal education. But, mere attainment of literacy skills is not enough — such skills should be functional so that the youth and adults can use their ability to read and write to actively participate in the dynamic digitised world. Also, literacy should help in active participation in political, social, cultural, and economic activities.

Though we have witnessed steady progress in the attainment of literacy, the COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the need for revamping the teaching process. We must make adult literacy an integral part of our COVID-19 recovery plan.

This year’s International Day of Literacy has the theme “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond”. The crisis has made us realise the catalytic role of the educator with technology as a facilitator — enabling them to use the transformative power of literacy for youth and adults alike. In the post-COVID-19 era, we must reconfirm our commitment to wipe out illiteracy from India.

Literacy promotion played a key part in the endeavours of illustrious leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who created a conducive atmosphere for the development of the mass literacy movement in India. The country has made earnest efforts to impart functional literacy and numeracy to adults in the age group of 15 years and above in both rural and urban areas through projects and programmes such as the Farmer’s Functional Literacy Project (FFLP), Functional Literacy for Adult Women (FLAW), National Adult Education Programme (NAEP), Rural Functional Literacy Project (RFLP), Mass Programme of Functional Literacy (MPFL) and National Literacy Mission (NLM).

The Saakshar Bharat project ran across 404 districts in 26 states and one Union Territory, covering 1.64 lakh gram panchayats. More than 10 crore learners appeared for the Basic literacy Assessment Tests conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling from August 2010 to March 2018. A massive 7.64 crore learners (5.38 crore female, 2.26 crore males) passed the assessment tests and were certified as literate. But, still, India has a sizeable number of illiterates, which means the target of achieving 100 per cent literacy by 2030 remains a challenging one.

The COVID-19 crisis challenges the achievement of Target 4.6 of SDG by 2030 – “ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy”. The pandemic has underlined the importance of literacy — low literacy levels may cause deep distress to the nation.

To tackle the literacy-related challenges in the post-COVID-19 world, the ministry of education, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is about to launch a new scheme for adult education, the Padhna Likhna Abhiyan. The focus of the scheme will be on the Basic Literacy component in a four months cycle — priority will be given to the 112 Aspirational Districts identified by the NITI Aayog. The scheme shall have a flexible approach and will involve innovative methodologies such as involving school and college students and other volunteers such as those from the NSS and NYKS, for imparting basic literacy. Massive literacy drives/projects will be implemented in tribal and forest areas, slums, minority pockets/villages/blocks, prisons, etc. The potential of digital technology will be harnessed for improving access and quality through the creation of digital e-material, mobile apps etc.

The Padhna Likhna Abhiyan envisions a giant leap towards achieving the goal of Total Literacy by 2030. To ensure the full outreach of the Padhna Likhna Abhiyan, efforts will be made to converge the programme with existing programmes of Rural Development, Health, Social Justice, Tribal Development, Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj Institutions, NGOs, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

I appeal to retired government persons such as teachers and other employees, homemakers, and others to participate in our efforts to build a literate India by coming forward to teach adult illiterates. I will ensure that all the teaching-learning material will be made available free of cost in the public domain with instructions/guidelines for the teacher and learning material for the adult learners so that we are all on the same page.

The SDG target 4.6 can only be achieved if we all work together. Let us come together to develop a fully literate society — Saakshar Bharat-Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

The writer is Union Education Minister

Source: Indian Express, 7/09/20

Delhi ranked 2nd best in literacy rate, Sisodia praises his education team

 

According to the study, after Kerala, Delhi has the best literacy rate at 88.7 per cent, followed by Uttarkhand’s 87.6 per cent, Himachal Pradesh’s 86.6 per cent and Assam’s at 85.9 per cent.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia congratulated the education team of his government on Monday after Delhi was ranked the second best in the country in literacy rate.

“Delhi ranks 2nd best in country in literacy rate. Congrats #TeamEducation Delhi. We will keep striving to reach 100%. Reducing stress should be highest priority. A suicide every hour is unacceptable! Initiatives like @HappinessDelhi are need of the hour & must b adopted widely,” Sisodia said in a tweet, which was retweeted by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The report on ‘Household Social Consumption: Education in India as part of 75th round of National Sample Survey - from July 2017 to June 2018’ provides for state-wise detail of literacy rate among the persons aged seven years and above.

According to the study, after Kerala, Delhi has the best literacy rate at 88.7 per cent, followed by Uttarkhand’s 87.6 per cent, Himachal Pradesh’s 86.6 per cent and Assam’s at 85.9 per cent.

With 96.2 per cent literacy, Kerala has once again emerged as the most literate state in the country, while Andhra Pradesh featured at the bottom with a rate of 66.4 per cent, showed a report based on National Statistical Office (NSO) survey.

On the other hand, Rajasthan is the second worst performer with the literacy rate of 69.7 per cent. Bihar has a literacy rate of 70.9 per cent, Telangana 72.8 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 73 per cent and Madhya Pradesh 73.7 per cent.

The study has pegged the overall literacy rate in the country at 77.7 per cent. In rural areas, the literacy rate is 73.5 per cent compared to 87.7 per cent in urban areas.

Source: Hindustan Times, 8/09/20