The Union Ministry of Education (MoE) has defined ‘literacy,’ and what it means to achieve ‘full literacy,’ in the light of the renewed push for adult literacy under the New India Literacy Programme (NILP).
Key points
- Literacy may be understood as the ability to read, write, and compute with comprehension, i.e. to identify, understand, interpret and create along with critical life skills such as digital literacy, financial literacy etc..
- Full literacy (to be considered equivalent to 100% literacy) will be achieving 95% literacy in a State/UT that may be considered as equivalent to fully literate.
- A non-literate person may be considered as literate under the NILP, as per the aforementioned definition when she/he has been declared literate after taking the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT).
New India Literacy Programme (NILP)
- Government has launched a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely, “New India Literacy Programme” (NILP) for implementation during five years from the FYs 2022-23 to 2026-27.
- The scheme aims to cover a target of 5.00 crore non-literates in the age group of 15 years and above.
- The Scheme has five components: (i) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, (ii) Critical Life Skills, (iii) Vocational Skills Development, (iv) Basic Education and (v) Continuing Education.
