July 9, 2026 has become a historic day for Uttarakhand. Under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and ‘ULLAS’ programme, the state has become the sixth fully literate state of India today.
Today i.e. on July 9, 2026, Uttarakhand has achieved a big achievement. Uttarakhand has now become the sixth fully literate state of India. This success has been achieved thanks to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the ‘ULLAS’ (Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society) program. With this success, Uttarakhand has now become one of the few states which have achieved the target of 100% literacy.
The state has achieved this status after meeting the adult literacy standards set by the Department of School Education and Literacy of the Union Education Ministry. ‘ULLAS’ programme, also known as Nav Bharat Literacy Programme, is a scheme of the Central Government. Its objective is to educate those people aged 15 years and above who were deprived of formal schooling.
How to meet literacy standards
This journey of complete literacy of Uttarakhand was completed today. The literacy rate in the state is now more than 98 percent. Under the ‘ULLAS’ programme, any state or union territory is considered fully literate when at least 95 percent of its population is literate. Governor Lieutenant General (Retd) Gurmeet Singh gave official approval to this proposal, after which the state was declared fully literate.
Before Uttarakhand, five more states have achieved this status: Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. On June 19 itself, the state cabinet had approved the proposal to declare Uttarakhand fully literate.
A collective effort towards ‘Developed India’
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami called it a “milestone” for the state. He attributed this success to the active participation of the people and the continuous efforts of the government. Congratulating the people of the state, the Chief Minister said that such collective efforts will help in achieving the goal of ‘Developed India’ by 2047.
State Education Minister Dr. Dhan Singh Rawat described this achievement as a moment of pride for every resident of Uttarakhand. The ‘ULLAS’ program focuses on teaching essential life skills like basic literacy, numeracy, and digital and financial literacy to people above 15 years of age.