Padhna Likhna Abhiyan: All you need to know about the literacy scheme for adults by the Government of India

On the occasion of International Literacy Day, Prime Minister Modi will be launching 'Padhna Likhna Abhiyan' to tackle the literacy-related challenges in the post COVID world, as per the Education Ministery of India. The scheme will be launched to educate adults in the country. 

The theme for this year's Literacy Day is 'Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond'. The ongoing pandemic has made us realise the power of literacy for all age groups with the technology as a facilitator. 

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India has so far made several efforts in wiping out the illiteracy by implementing several schemes and campaigns such as 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). However, the country is still lagging behind in achieving 100% literacy rate by the year 2023. 

The Saakshar Bharat project ran across 26 states and one UT, covering around 1.64 lakh gram panchayats. From August 2010 to March 2018, National Institute of Open Schooling conducted Basic Literacy Assessment Tests, where more than 10 crore people appeared. Out of these 10 crore people, 7.64 crores qualified the test with 5.38 crore females and 2.26 crore males. 

Padhna Likhna Abhiyan

Padhna Likhna Abhiyan will focus on the Basic Literacy component in four months cycle amongst the adults of the nation. For this purpose, the government think tank, NITI Aayog, has underlined 112 Aspirational Districts. This scheme will focus on achieving 100% or Total Literacy by 2030. The scheme will be merged with the existing schemes of the government. 

Under this scheme, massive literacy projects will be launched in the tribal and forests areas, prisons, slums, etc. with the technology as a facilitator. By driving the technology in, quality education will be imparted in the backward areas with the creation of e-materials, mobile apps and more. 

In a blog post on Indian Express, the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has requested the retired government teachers and other employees, homemakers and volunteers to actively participate in building a literate India. He assured that the material for learning and teaching will be made available free of cost in the public domain. The guidelines and instructions will also be provided to the teachers. 

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