Current Affairs 2022: Understanding the New India Literacy Programme

By Yash Singhal

The New India Literacy programme 2022 is in line with the New Education Policy 2020 and is announced for a period of five years.

The Indian government has enacted a 'New India Literacy Program' that will cover all aspects of adult education and will also align with the National Education Policy 2020 and budget announcements 2021-22, among other things. The new scheme is announced for the period FYs 2022-2027.
In this year’s Union Budget, it was announced that online modules covering the entire spectrum of adult education would be introduced in order to increase access to resources.

Components of the New India Literacy Scheme

1. In addition to foundational literacy and numeracy, the scheme aims to impart other components that are necessary for a citizen of the 21st  century.
2. The scheme focuses on critical life skills (including financial and digital literacy, commercial skills, health care and awareness, child care and education, and family welfare). 
3. It will also aim at vocational skills development (with a view to obtaining local employment).
4. Basic education (including preparatory, middle and secondary education) will also be included.

Implementation of New India Literacy Scheme

This scheme will be implemented on a voluntary basis and will be accessible through the internet. It will be possible to organise face-to-face training, orientation, and volunteer workshops to benefit from this method. All materials and resources will be made available digitally so that registered volunteers can easily access them through effortless accessible digital modes, such as television, radio, cell phone-based free/open-source apps/portals, and so on.

The programme will be available to non-literates between the ages of 15 and 24 in all states and union territories across the nation. The target for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for the fiscal years 2022-27 is five crore learners at $1.00 billion per year, achieved through the use of the 'Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment System (OTLAS),' developed in collaboration with the National Informatics Center, NCERT, and NIOS, in which a learner may register with essential information such as date of birth, gender, Aadhaar number, contact number, name, etc.
The budget estimate for the 'New India Literacy Programme' is approximately around Rs 1000+ crore, which includes a share from the centre of Rs.700 crores and the rest Rs.300+ crore will be shared by the respective states.

Highlights of the Programme

• Schools will serve as the implementation unit for the scheme.
• Using schools to conduct a survey of beneficiaries and volunteer teachers will save time and money (VTs).
• For different age groups, different strategies should be implemented, and so on. States and local governments will be given the flexibility they need to engage in innovative activities.
• The foundational skills of literacy and numeracy will be taught to all non-literates in the age group of 15 years and above.
• The use of technology to deliver adult education in order to expand the reach of the programme.
• It will show the performance of States and Union Territories to implement the system on a year-to-year basis by evaluating both physical and financial progress through UDISE, which will be used to calculate the Performance Grading Index (PGI).
• In exchange for hosting ICT support, providing volunteer support, opening facilitation centres for learners, and granting IT access to economically disadvantaged learners in the form of cell phones, among other things, CSR/philanthropic support can be received.
• With regard to literacy, the age cohorts of 15-35 will be the first to reach saturation, followed by those aged 35 and above. Those who can significantly and immediately benefit from adult education will be given priority in terms of categories, such as girls and women, Scheduled Castes (SC)/ Scheduled Tribes /Other Backward Communities /Minorities, Persons with Special Needs (Divyangs), marginalized/construction workers/labourers etc. Geographically, the focus will be on all aspirational districts of the NITI Aayog, districts with literacy rates lower than the national/state average, districts with female literacy rates lower than sixty percent as per the 2011 Census, districts or blocks with a large Scheduled Castes (SC)/Scheduled Tribes /Minority population and Educationally Backward Blocks among other things. 
• Coherence with different Ministries and Departments for efficient and effective implementation of the National Industrialization and Labor Program; MeitY: Media Literacy in the Digital Age. Department of Financial Services/Ministry of Finance: Financial Literacy, Ministry of Science and Technology (MoSDE): Skilling, Department of Justice/Ministry of Justice: Legal Literacy, Ministry of Defense: Participation of NCC Volunteers and Ex-Servicemen, MoYAS: Involvement of NYKS, NSS, Ministry of Rural Development: NRLM and DDU-GKY, Ministry of Cooperatives: Involvement of Cooperative Societies, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: Health and Hygiene Literacy, NDMA/MHA: National Disaster Management and Homeland Security. In order to implement among minorities, MoMA was created. Department of Higher Education: Continuing Education, Ministry of Culture: Libraries, Cultural Literacy, MoPR: For Panchayat support, Rural Libraries, and other projects, MWCD: Participation of Anganwadi Workers, MoTA: Implementation in Tribal Areas; and other initiatives.
Adult education is now referred to as 'Education for All' in the United States. As a reformative step, the government has decided that the term 'Education For All' will be used in India as well in place of the term 'Adult Education' from now on. This is in recognition of the fact that the term 'Adult Education' does not adequately encompass all non-literates from 15-year-old and above.
As per the data of the 2011 Census, the total number of non-literates in the country in the 15-year-old and older age group is 25.76 crore people (Male: 9 crores, Female: 16 crores). In light of the advancement made in the certification of literates, which totals to around 7.64 crores between 2009-10 and 2017-18 as a result of the Saakshar Bharat programme implemented between 2009-10 and 2017-18, it is estimated that approximately 18+ crore adults in India are still illiterate.

 

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