Context: In September 2025, Himachal Pradesh was declared ‘fully literate’. It became the fifth state/UT in India to achieve this milestone after Goa, Ladakh, Mizoram, and Tripura.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Government initiatives/schemes to promote literacy; State of literacy in India.
What does Fully Literate Mean?
- The Ministry of Education defines literacy 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.
- A state/UT is considered “fully literate” once it achieves 95% literacy.
- Himachal Pradesh has achieved a literacy rate of 99.3%, qualifying it for the tag.
The declaration is part of the ULLAS (Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society) programme launched in 2022 to achieve 100% literacy by 2030.
What is the ULLAS Programme?
- ULLAS (Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society) is a literacy programme for people over 15 years of age who may not have attended school.
- It was launched in 2022 with the aim of achieving 100% literacy by 2030, which is one the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
- The program is also in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which calls for adult education initiatives to achieve 100% literacy.
How does someone attain literacy?
- Under the ULLAS program, adult learners are taught basic reading, writing, and math (arithmetic like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) that a child in school would learn up to class 3.
- They are also taught how to read and measure time, make sense of calendars, use currency notes, write cheques, and safely make digital transactions.
- This training is provided either through a mobile App or offline, by students or community volunteers.
- After that, the Functional Literacy Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT), a 150-mark reading, writing and numeracy test, is administered in a person’s chosen language.
- On passing the test, the learner is certified by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) as having acquired foundational literacy and numeracy
To learn who requires training under the ULLAS program, states conduct door-to-door surveys, or rely on other data. Those identified as not being literate are given requisite training and administered the FLNAT.
State of Literacy in India
- Census 2011:
- In the 2011 Census, any person aged 7 years and above who could read and write with understanding in any language was considered literate.
- As per this Census, the literacy rate among women was 64.6%, while among men it was 80.9%.
- The Census also measured adult literacy, defined for those aged 15 years and above, and found the national figure to be 69.3%.
- National Sample Survey (NSS) 71st round:
- The National Sample Survey (NSS) 71st round (January-June 2014) showed an adult literacy rate of 71% for India.
- Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24:
- PLFS 2023-24 reported a national literacy rate of 77.5% for the population aged 7 years and above.
- As per PLFS, 22.3% of people in India aged 15 and above were not literate.
- Among the states and UTs, the highest proportion of illiterate adults was in Bihar (33.1%), followed by Andhra Pradesh (31.5%) and Madhya Pradesh.