ABSTRACT
In October 1978, for the first time since independence, the Government of India recognised adult illiteracy as a significant problem worthy of solution and launched the National Adult Education Programme (NAEP). The need was obvious: according to the Directorate of Adult Education, Government of India, based on the 1971 census data, nearly 66 per cent of the 460 million persons aged five years or more were illiterates. The number of adult (age 15 and over) illiterates went up to approximately 210 million in 1971, from the 1961 figure of 190 million though the literate proportion increased from 24 to 29 per cent. As of 1976, the population of illiterate adults aged 15 to 35 (considered the most productive age group) would have been around 100 million. The Government of India, concerned about such a situation, prepared an adult education programme to be implemented by various state governments and provisionally allocated Rs 2,000 million[ 2 ] to be spent during the sixth plan period (1978 to 1983).
