NEW
INDIA LITERACY PROGRAMME - POLITY
News:
Back to school: 22.7 lakh
adults gained literacy and numeracy skills this year
What's
in the news?
●
There are among the 22.7 lakh unlikely
students from ten States and Union Territories who became qualified as literate
adults this year, passing the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment
Test (FLNAT) for 2022-23.
●
More than 40% of the successful candidates
were from Madhya Pradesh alone.
Key
takeaways:
●
According to Education Ministry data,
there are currently 15 to 20 crore illiterate people in India, who do not know
how to read and write.
●
While there is a renewed push for adult
literacy under the newly floated Nav
Bharat Saksharta Abhiyan or New India Literacy Programme, which is
targeting one crore adults next year, it relies on volunteer-based teaching due
to a lack of funds to hire qualified teachers to exclusively teach adults.
New India Literacy Programme:
●
Government has announced a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely, “New
India Literacy Programme” (NILP) for implementation during five years from 2022-23 to 2026-27.
Target:
●
The target for Foundational Literacy and
Numeracy for FYs 2022-27 is 5 crore
learners at one crore per year by using “Online Teaching, Learning and
Assessment System (OTLAS).”
Nodal
Ministry: Ministry
of Education
Beneficiaries:
●
The scheme will cover non-literates of the age of 15 years and above in all states/UTs.
Objectives:
The programme has five objectives such as
Unique
features:
●
NILP is also the first time that a government scheme covers the missing age group of 15 to 18year old children, who are at
risk of dropping out of school.
●
For adults, integrating life skills like reading a voter ID card, or a First
Information Report at a police station or opening a Jan Dhan account in a bank
are important.
●
The National
Council of Educational Research and Training has developed a curriculum of
four books that adult learners have to master within 200 hours of teaching in
order to be certified ‘literate.’
●
It relies on volunteer-based teaching due to a lack of funds to hire qualified
teachers to exclusively teach adults.
●
School
will be the Unit for the implementation of the scheme.
●
Flexibility
for States/UTs will be provided to undertake innovative
activities.
●
The Performance
Grading Index (PGI) for State/UT and district level will show the
performance of States and UTs on a yearly basis by measuring progress through
the UDISE portal.