Padhna Likhna Abhiyan

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The government’s new literacy scheme, ‘Padhna Likhna Abhiyan’, will be a leap forward for achieving the goal of total literacy by 2030, Union Education Minister.

Ministry: It comes under the Ministry of Education ( Earlier MHRD).

The Principal Target Group: The programme imparts functional literacy and numeracy to 57 lakh non-literate and non-numerate adults in both rural and urban areas across the country in the age group of 15 years and above. This target mostly comprises Women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and other Disadvantaged Groups. In the scheme, among others, priority will be given to Districts with female literacy rates less than 60%, as per the latest Census.

The unique features of the scheme include the following:

The focus of the programme shall be on the Basic Literacy component in a four months cycle; priority will be given to aspirational districts.
The programme will cover both rural and urban areas, target and budget of States/UTs is indicated in Annexure with details in the enclosed Operational Guidelines.
States/UTs will distribute targets to Districts.
The scheme shall have a flexible approach and innovative methodologies such as involving school and college students and other volunteers of NCC, NSS and NYKS, for imparting Basic Literacy.
There will be a Project Approval Board (PAB) at the national level to approve the Annual Plans of States/UTs.
Secretaries of Education will present their Annual Plans, based on district plans, on the portal being developed by NIC, in the PAB meetings.
Convergence with projects of M/o Rural Development (MGNREGA), Skill Development, Culture, Information Technology, Finance, Sports and Youth Welfare (NYK), schemes of NCC and NSS, NGOs/Civil Society & CSR sector may be taken up.
Formation and involvement of SHGs, Voluntary & User Groups and other community based organizations may be encouraged.
Basic Literacy Assessment under the scheme will be conducted by National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) for adult learners, thrice a year.

Aspirational Districts Programme:

Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan.
With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

Formerly known as National Open School (NOS) was established in November,1989 as an autonomous organisation in pursuance of National Policy on Education 1986 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
NIOS is providing a number of Vocational, Life Enrichment and community oriented courses besides General and Academic Courses at Secondary and Senior Secondary level.
It also offers Elementary level Courses through its Open Basic Education Programmes (OBE).

Source: Ministry of Education and Kurukshetra