Lok Sabha Question No. 1774 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-10
Subject: Female Literacy Rate
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Ujjwal Raman Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1774 ANSWERED ON 10.03.2025

## Female Literacy Rate

†1774.    Shri Ujjwal Raman Singh:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)   the status of female literacy rate in the country during the year 2023-24, State/UT-wise including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar;

(b)   the reasons for the low female literacy rate in the country especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar; and

(c)   the details of the steps taken by the Government to make women aware of education and increase the literacy rate in the country during the year 2023-24, State-wise including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a)  & (b):  The details of the female literacy rate as per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24  in  the  country,  States/UT-wise  including  Uttar  Pradesh  and  Bihar  are  given  at Annexure-I .  Multiple factors like accumulated backlog of non-literates, poverty, gender and social category inequalities etc. affect the literacy scenario of the country.

(c)   In order to improve the literacy rate including women literacy rate among adults in the country, the Government of India has introduced a Centrally Sponsored Scheme called Nav Bharat  Saksharta  Karyakram  (NILP),  popularly  known  as  ULLAS:  Understanding  of Lifelong Learning for All in Society from 1st April, 2022 upto 2027. The scheme, aligned with  NEP 2020, targets  adults  (aged  15  years  and  above)  who  couldn't  go  to  school.  The scheme has five components, namely: (i) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, (ii) Critical Life Skills, (iii) Basic Education, (iv) Vocational Skills, and (v) Continuing Education.

The scheme is implemented in a hybrid mode, allowing States/UTs the flexibility to adopt  offline  or  online  mode  focusing  on  imparting  foundational  literacy  and  numeracy including  critical  life  skills,  digital  &  financial  literacy.  ULLAS  works  with  the  vision  of making Bharat 'Jan Jan Saakshar', driven by Kartavyabodh (a sense of duty), utilising school platforms  and  community  engagement  through  volunteerism  to  achieve  full  literacy.  The scheme focuses on rural areas,  educationally backward areas,  women and other vulnerable communities etc.

A  dedicated  ULLAS  Mobile  App  has  been  developed  for  registering  learners  and volunteer teachers and also enables teaching learning process by providing access to primers in 26 languages. Till date, more than 2 Crore learners have been registered through ULLAS Mobile App and more than 1.1 Crore learners  have  already  appeared  in  the  Literacy  Test named Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT) across the country.

Uttar  Pradesh  is  also  implementing  the  scheme  and  more  than  13.22  lakh  learners have been registered under the ULLAS scheme. Uttar Pradesh has conducted its four FLNAT in which more than 6.10 Lakh Learners have appeared in the examination. The State of Bihar has not implemented the ULLAS scheme yet.

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ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.1774  FOR  10.03.2025  ASKED  BY  SHRI  UJJWAL RAMAN SINGH, HON'BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING FEMALE LITERACY RATE

State/UT-wise Female Literacy Rate (in per cent) in the Country

| Sl.No.   | State/UT                         |   2023-24 |
|----------|----------------------------------|-----------|
|          | all India                        |      74.6 |
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh                   |      66.8 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh                |      80.3 |
| 3        | Assam                            |      83.6 |
| 4        | Bihar                            |      66.1 |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh                     |      70.6 |
| 6        | Delhi                            |      81.5 |
| 7        | Goa                              |      90   |
| 8        | Gujarat                          |      77.5 |
| 9        | Haryana                          |      77.4 |
| 10       | Himachal Pradesh                 |      83.1 |
| 11       | Jharkhand                        |      70.6 |
| 12       | Karnataka                        |      77.3 |
| 13       | Kerala                           |      94   |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh                   |      67   |
| 15       | Maharashtra                      |      81.6 |
| 16       | Manipur                          |      89.7 |
| 17       | Meghalava                        |      93.5 |
| 18       | Mizoram                          |      97   |
| 19       | Nagaland                         |      94.1 |
| 20       | Odisha                           |      73.3 |
| 21       | Punjab                           |      79.8 |
| 22       | Rajasthan                        |      65.8 |
| 23       | Sikkim                           |      79.3 |
| 24       | Tamil Nadu                       |      81.3 |
| 25       | Telangana                        |      69.4 |
| 26       | Tripura                          |      91.6 |
| 27       | Uttarakhand                      |      77.2 |
| 28       | Uttar Pradesh                    |      70.4 |
| 29       | West Bengal                      |      79.3 |
| 30       | Andaman &NIsland                 |      87   |
| 31       | Chandigarh                       |      90.7 |
| 32       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli & Daman &Diu |      80.7 |
| 33       | Jammu &Kashmir                   |      73.8 |
| 34       | Ladakh                           |      73.1 |
| 35       | Lakshadweep                      |      94.8 |
| 36       | Puducherry                       |      88.8 |

Source  of  Data  -  Periodic  Labour  Force  Survey  (PLFS)  Ministry  of  Statistics  and Programme  implementation