5 Education Initiatives To Boost Literacy In India

September 8 is celebrated as International Literacy Day all over the world and this year, the theme is “transforming literacy learning spaces”. This day was founded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1966 and it aims to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a human right and a matter of dignity. In India, the literacy rate in 1951 was a mere 18.3 per cent and as per a report by the National Statistical Commission, it has gone up to 77.7 per cent in 2017-2018.

This year, the whole idea of the day is to keep in mind the vital importance of educational learning spaces to ensure that those studying build resilience and have access to quality and inclusive education. Building on this idea, we thought of highlighting the initiatives taken by the government of India and other organisations to boost literacy in the country.

New India Literacy Programme (NILP)

In 2022, the Union of India has approved a scheme called the New India Literacy Programme (NILP) where for the next five years (2022-2027), it will support the States and Union Territories in promoting literacy among non-literates aged 15 years and above. It will provide aid to over five crore Indians and has a total financial budget of ₹ 1,037.90 crores to achieve this.

Each One Teach One Programme

In 1983, the Each One Teach One Charitable Foundation was established to create opportunities for the less privileged. Its purpose was to improve the life of disadvantaged children and help them realise their inherent potential along with helping them find the tools to deal with the challenges they may face in their lives–in both the urban and rural areas of India.

Smile Twin-E-Learning Programme

The Each One Teach One Foundation has teamed up with the Smile Foundation to create the Smile Twin-E-Learning Programme to improve literacy in underprivileged adolescents. It helps them by equipping them with marketable skills like English and Computers and aids them in finding employment in service sectors. It also trains and teaches them the importance of basic management, teamwork, leadership and counselling as well as gender issues, reproductive and sexual health issues and diseases like HIV/AIDS.

National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) and Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA)

These schemes were implemented by the government in 2014 and 2016 respectively, to train 52.5 lakh people in digital literacy. There are two levels of IT digital literacy in this programme. The first level is the basic one where people are taught to operate digital devices like phones and tablets and sent and receive emails, search the internet etc.

The second is at a higher level where the citizen is trained to access the various e-Governance services being offered to the citizen by the Government and other agencies.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)

In 2017, the Union Cabinet adopted this scheme to bring digital literacy to six crore rural households by educating one person per household. Around 40,215,259 are certified students whereas 54,102,839 have completed training.