The Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been formally declared a fully literate Union Territory under the ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram, marking a significant milestone in adult education and literacy efforts in the region.
The declaration followed the successful implementation of the New India Literacy Programme between 2023 and 2025, during which thousands of non-literate adults across the Islands were identified, enrolled and trained under a structured literacy initiative aimed at achieving near-universal literacy.
According to official data, the literacy status was assessed using the Standard Operating Procedure issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The guidelines, communicated through a notification dated December 11, 2025, set the parameters for declaring a State or Union Territory as fully literate.
Under the prescribed procedure, authorities used the Census of India 2011 population data and projected demographic figures to determine literacy benchmarks. The total population of the Union Territory recorded in the 2011 Census stood at 380,581, including 40,878 children aged between 0 and 6 years.
Population projections for 2025 estimated the total population at 405,000. After excluding the population aged 0 to 6 years, the projected population above that age group stood at 383,078.
Based on the guidelines, five percent of the projected population, 19,154 people, represents the threshold used to determine whether the remaining non-literate population falls below the limit required to achieve a literacy rate of over 95 percent.
The literacy surveys conducted under the programme identified 3,387 non-literate individuals across the Islands during the 2023 ULLAS survey. The figure remained significantly below the five percent benchmark of the projected population.
Following the survey, the State Literacy Mission Authority carried out additional surveys in 2024 and 2025 to identify adults above the age of 15 who lacked basic reading and writing skills. Identified learners were enrolled in nearby Samajik Chetana Kendras where they received training in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.
Volunteer teachers conducted classes to help learners develop basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. After completing the training, participants appeared for the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling.
Between 2023 and 2025, a total of 6,087 learners successfully qualified the assessment and were officially declared literate. The final batch of 492 learners cleared the examination conducted on September 21, 2025.
After verifying that all conditions under the programme’s guidelines had been met, the administration formally declared the Union Territory fully literate during the 77th Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2026.
With this announcement, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands became the third Union Territory in India to achieve this status after Ladakh and Chandigarh.
The literacy initiative forms part of the national effort to expand adult education and improve foundational learning among individuals who previously lacked access to formal schooling.
Officials said the literacy drive relied on island-wide surveys, community learning centres and volunteer participation to identify and train adult learners across remote and urban areas of the archipelago.
The achievement reflects the broader implementation of the ULLAS programme aimed at ensuring that a large majority of adults possess basic literacy and numeracy skills, enabling greater participation in social and economic life.
