The ULLAS Initiative for Lifelong Learning

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The Governor of Uttarakhand, Lieutenant General (Retd.) Gurmit Singh, recently approved a formal proposal to declare the state fully literate.
With this official approval, Uttarakhand has now become India's sixth fully literate State under the national literacy guidelines.

The acronym ULLAS stands for Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society.
This centrally sponsored scheme is also known as the New India Literacy Programme or Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram.
The program changes the old focus of adult education from just teaching people how to sign their names.
Instead, it defines literacy as having practical daily skills and basic life knowledge.
The Central Government approved this nationwide program for a five-year period from Financial Year 2022 to 2027.
The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) under the Union Ministry of Education manages this entire initiative.

The scheme targets non-literate adults who are 15 years and above and could not complete formal schooling.
It aims to teach basic reading, writing, and math to 5 crore learners over five years.
To achieve this, the program targets 1 crore learners annually using a mix of online and offline learning methods.
The initiative wants to turn adult learning into a shared civic duty, known as Kartavya Bodh.
This approach relies on community volunteers instead of relying only on strict government rules.

The new literacy standard tests if a person can read, write, do basic math, use smartphones, and understand simple money matters.
Local schools serve as the main centers for classes.
Unused classrooms, village libraries, or panchayat offices are converted into Samajik Chetna Kendras to conduct these classes.
Learners can register and track their progress easily using the ULLAS Mobile App and Portal.
Study materials are available in local languages through digital platforms like the centralized DIKSHA portal.
The government publishes and distributes learning books, called Primers, in 27 different languages and local dialects.
The program conducts the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT) twice a year to test learning levels.
Students who pass this test get an official certificate signed by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and DoSEL.
To help learners find local jobs, successful students are linked with skill training at local Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS).

The Union Territory of Ladakh achieved over 95 percent literacy under this initiative in the year 2024.
In the year 2025, several states and UTs reached this high literacy mark, including Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
By the year 2026, other regions like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand successfully achieved over 95 percent literacy.