Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Department of Education, Assam, has identified around 7.12 lakh non-literate people above 15 years of age. The department is undertaking a process to literate this section of people under the Central Government's New Indian Literary Programme (NILP).
According to the 2011 Census report, the literacy rate in Assam was 72.19 percent. According to the data of the National Statistical Office, the present literacy rate in the state is estimated at 85.9 percent. The district with the highest literacy rate in the state is Kamrup (M), and the district with the lowest literacy rate is Dhubri.
According to official sources, the NILP taken up by the central government has a span of five years-from 2022 to 2027. The outlay for this programme is Rs 1037 crore. The Centre has released around Rs 20 crore for Assam to implement this programme. According to sources, so far 12,929 non-literate people have received literacy in the state under this programme. The programme accords priority to girls and women, people belonging to SC, ST, and OBC categories, divyangs, construction workers, and labourers. The focus is on the people of the age group of 15-35 years. According to sources, socioeconomic conditions, family background, remoteness, etc., make these people remain illiterate. Some people in these groups leave schooling at the primary stage, and after that, they start earning for their families.
Children in sar and hill areas often give up schooling because of the remoteness of schools. For some, education remains a distant dream for their family backgrounds. According to sources, this programme aims to educate adults who have not had the opportunity to go to school. The scheme is implemented through voluntarism in a hybrid mode. Training, orientation, and workshops of volunteers are organized through the face-to-face mode. The basic aim of this programme is to impart foundational literacy and numeracy, critical life skills, basic education, vocational schemes, and continuing education.
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