In Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), the Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan said that about 25 crore population is below the primary definition of literacy in the country. Giving the data, he said approximately 15 crore children and youths in India are not part of the formal education system and around 50 crore children and youth between 3-22 years, around crore have been enrolled in government, private and charitable schools, anganwadis, Higher education Institutions.
In his statement, Pradhan said, “If we take into account the numbers of children and youth between the age of 3-22 years who are enrolled in government, private and charitable schools, anganwadis, Higher Education Institutions and in the entire skilling ecosystem, the cumulative figure from all the verticals is around 35 crore while the country’s population in the particular age group is around 50 crore. This means that at least 15 crore children and youth are out of the formal education system. We want to bring them into the education system. After 75 years of independence day, the statistics of literacy population has reached 80 per cent. Which means 20 per cent population or roughly around 25 crore are still below the primary definition of literacy.”
Since India got its independence, 19% of its population was literate then, and The New Education Policy is the roadmap for the next 25 years to achieve ‘certain targets by the time we complete 100 years of independence,’ Pradhan said.
