Nodal teams constituted for enrolments under ULLAS scheme

A district-level meeting regarding the 'ULLAS' campaign was chaired by the district education department officials. ULLAS, also known as the New India Literacy Programme (NILP), is a scheme sponsored by the Government of India, aiming to achieve 100 per cent literacy among people aged 15 and above, who have missed out on formal education. It focuses on providing foundational literacy and numeracy skills, along with critical life skills, and is implemented through volunteerism. The programme is aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, and will be implemented from 2022-2027.

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The District Education Officer (Elementary), Kanwaljeet Singh, chaired the meeting and directed the officials to begin training of teachers under Nipun Bharat Mission to smoothly implement the identification and integration of people under ULLAS into formal education.

Addressing the meeting, Kanwaljit Singh said that under the ULLAS scheme, the district education administration has initiated efforts to identify people above the age of 15, who are deprived of education and connect them with education.

“A special policy is being prepared to prepare the outline of their training programmes for the new session by collecting data of teachers who are teaching pre-primary to fifth classes under the Nipun Bharat Mission. Additionally, District Institutes for Education and Training (DIETs) have been attached with the ULLAS scheme, where nodal officers prepare syllabus and impart education to the selected candidates. We have formed these nodal teams and soon, will be carrying out the identification survey,” said Kanwaljit Singh.

In Punjab, the State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT), Punjab, actively participates in ULLAS. Notably, during the ‘Literacy Week’ which was held between September 1 and 8, in 2024, the SCERT involved district education officials, DIET principals, SSC/NCC, NSS, anganwadi workers, NGOs and schools to raise awareness and promote adult education. Candidates taught under ULLAS are evaluated with Foundational Literacy and numeracy Assessment Test.

Every year, each state is given a target for enrolment of candidates under ULLAS. While the target for Punjab under ULLAS this year is 17,000 enrolments, the data on how many total enrolments the state is able to achieve rests with the education department and SCERT.