VELLORE: Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi has said that Rs 9.83 crore has been allocated to educate (read and write) 4.8 lakh people in the State under the New India Literary Programme (NILP) through the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Non-Formal and Adult Education. The Minister was speaking at the inaugural function of NILP at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) on Tuesday.
"Based on the 2011 Census, about 86% of men have basic literacy and 73% of women know how to read and write," Anbil Mahesh said. The main objective of the programme is for everyone to know how to read and write as the scheme was launched with the objective of imparting basic literacy among adults, the minister said.
He said over 50 lakh people in the state cannot read and write. The aim is to make at least 50% of them able to read and write. "As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, there is a growing interest among adults to learn basic literacy. A befitting example was when 2,747 elderly people appeared for the writing exam conducted at 112 centres in Arakkonam," the Minister said.
A society that is literate is a progressive society and the objective of NILP is to attain that, he said. "In 2021-22, we achieved the target of educating three lakh people. This year, it is 4.8 lakh in the State. The programme is being implemented in Vellore district with the target of imparting basic literacy to 10,820 people," Anbil Mahesh said.
He said it is the duty of teachers to convert this into a success from the ground up and urged them to take the scheme to the public. District collector P Kumaravel Pandian presided over the function. Vellore MP DM Kathir Anand, MLAs and Vellore mayor Sujatha Anandakumar were among those present on the occasion