Sikkim has been officially declared a fully literate state under the ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram, with the announcement made by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang during the 7th convocation ceremony of Sikkim University in Gangtok.
The declaration was made in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Om Prakash Mathur at Manan Kendra.
Addressing the convocation, Murmu congratulated the state government and the people of Sikkim for achieving what she described as a “historic milestone” under the ULLAS literacy programme.
She said the achievement marked a defining moment for the Himalayan state and reflected a collective commitment towards education and empowerment.
Governor Mathur also praised the coordinated efforts of government institutions and citizens in achieving universal literacy, stating that literacy forms the foundation of inclusive development and progress.
According to the Education Department, Sikkim achieved a literacy rate of 99.82 per cent under the ULLAS framework, significantly above the Ministry of Education’s benchmark of 95 per cent required for a state to be declared fully literate.
Data from the Unnayan Survekshan 2022 conducted by the Directorate of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation showed that Sikkim has a population of 5,30,046 people aged 15 years and above.
Surveys carried out during the programme identified 15,361 non-literate adults across the state, of whom 14,447 were certified as literate through the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling.
The ULLAS programme was launched in Sikkim on November 14, 2022, and was implemented across all six districts, 34 blocks, 199 Gram Panchayat Units, 1,149 Gram Panchayat wards, urban local bodies, municipal councils and the municipal corporation.
Officials said five rounds of literacy assessment tests were conducted between March 2024 and February 2026.
More than 4,000 volunteer teachers, including school teachers, college students, non-teaching staff and community members, participated in the literacy campaign without honorarium.
The State Centre for Literacy under SCERT Gangtok developed learning materials and training modules for volunteer teachers, while the Cell for National Centre for Literacy in New Delhi provided academic and technical support for the programme.
With the declaration, Sikkim joins Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh among states and Union Territories recognised as fully literate under the ULLAS programme.
The Education Department said the next phase of the programme in Sikkim would focus on digital literacy, vocational education, life skills and continuing education initiatives.
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