Nagaland’s 95.7% literacy rate is an extraordinary statistical achievement. It is also a number that deserves closer examination because the state is still running a substantial adult-literacy programme for people who remain outside basic education.
The figure comes from the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2023-24, which measures literacy among people aged seven years and above. Nagaland’s long-term rise has been substantial. Literacy stood at 21.95% in 1963, rose to 42.57% in 1981, 60.59% in 1991, 66.60% in 2001 and 79.55% in the 2011 Census before reaching the latest PLFS estimate. The progression reflects decades of expansion in education, but the Census and PLFS figures come from different statistical exercises and should not be treated as one continuous measurement.
The more revealing part of the story sits outside that single statewide percentage. Nagaland continues to implement ULLAS, the Centre’s adult-literacy programme for people aged 15 years and above who missed formal education or remain non-literate.
The state is identifying learners, training volunteer teachers and conducting foundational literacy and numeracy assessments across districts. PLFS estimates literacy across a broad population, while ULLAS is designed to find and educate adults who remain outside basic literacy.
The Centre uses 95% literacy as the benchmark for full literacy under ULLAS, yet Nagaland has not been among the states and Union Territories formally declared fully literate under the programme. Therefore, the question is not whether the PLFS estimate is genuine. It is how much of the remaining literacy problem is being hidden inside a statewide average.
Nagaland’s own ULLAS records show why that question matters. The first seven implementing districts were Mon, Kiphire, Tuensang, Zunheboto, Peren, Phek and Dimapur. Their Census 2011 literacy rates ranged from 54.63% in Mon to 84.76% in Dimapur, and the state identified 210,711 target learners across those districts using Census-era data. These figures are not current district literacy rates, but they show how sharply literacy conditions have differed across Nagaland.
The latest ULLAS assessment gives a more recent picture of the adults still being brought into the literacy system. On March 21, 2026, 5,069 adult learners appeared for the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test across seven districts, with 4,522 passing. Women accounted for 3,208 successful candidates and men 1,314, producing an overall pass rate of approximately 89.2% among those assessed.
The programme is expanding as well. For 2026-27, Nagaland has targeted another 63,882 adult learners across Kohima, Mokokchung, Longleng and Wokha, supported by 952 volunteer teachers covering 452 villages. Those figures are difficult to square with the idea that a high statewide literacy percentage tells the whole story. They point instead to a smaller but still significant population requiring direct intervention.
Meghalaya provides a useful benchmark for readers closer to home. Its literacy rate is 94.2%, just 1.5 percentage points below Nagaland, while it too is using ULLAS to reach adults outside basic literacy.
Meghalaya officials said in April that nearly two lakh people remain illiterate as the state works toward crossing the 95% benchmark. The comparison is not a competition between the two states. It illustrates how closely neighbouring Northeast states can sit in statewide literacy rankings while still dealing with sizeable groups requiring adult education.
Nagaland’s officials have also acknowledged the gap between a high statewide literacy figure and the people still outside formal education. In May 2026, a Kohima official said a sizeable population remained illiterate and had not been covered by formal education, with ULLAS surveys being used to identify those adults.
The May statement puts the focus on the adults who remain outside formal education, despite Nagaland’s high overall literacy rate. The state’s progress is substantial, but the remaining gap still requires targeted work through ULLAS.
The state has made enormous progress over six decades, but the continuing ULLAS work shows that the final stretch is being measured not merely in percentages but in adults being identified, taught and assessed.
Nagaland’s latest literacy estimate stands at 95.7%, while 63,882 adult learners are targeted under the 2026-27 ULLAS phase and 5,069 appeared in the latest assessment.
