New India Literacy Programme: HEIs to Instruct Students to Mandatorily Teach 5 Illiterates Annually

The University Grant Commission (UGC) has instructed all Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to encourage and make it mandatory for students to teach at least 5 illiterate people during an academic session. The programme of teaching illiterate people by students is to be initiated to accelerate the goal of achieving a 100% literacy rate across India. Furthermore, the UGC authorities asked the HEIs to implement the "New India Literacy programme" launched by the Ministry of Education.  

The students will earn credits from the credit framework by participating in the teaching programme instructed by the UGC. The teaching of 5 illiterate people of 15 years or above will be implemented as a project or assignment and will be considered a part of the curriculum. Per the New India Literacy Programme, the term "Adult Education" is to be replaced with "Education for All."

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New India Literacy Programme - Key Highlights

The Government of India approved a new scheme called "New India Literacy Programme" for 2022-27, which aims to cover all aspects of "Adult Education" and will be aligned with the "National Education Policy 2020." The following are some points key features of the scheme:

• Schools will be the primary unit for implementing the New India Literacy Programme.
• To achieve the primary objective of the programme, students will be required to participate in teaching at least 5 non-literate people of age 15 and above, for which they will earn suitable credits that will be accountable for the development of the credits framework.
• The HEls can train students to carry out activities as per NILP guidelines.
• The use of technology will be encouraged to impart adult education.
• The scientific method will be used to assess literacy to collect practical knowledge and skills for functional literacy. The learner will also receive an on-demand assessment through OTLAS and an electronic certificate that will be jointly e-signed by NIOS and NLMA.