About Akshar Jyoti

Bringing the light of literacy to every community.

Akshar Jyoti is India Humanity Foundation’s adult literacy programme. For adults who never went to school, or left too soon — most of them women — learning to read, write and count brings more than a skill. It brings independence and dignity.

Our story

Akshar Jyoti — the light of letters

Akshar means letter. Jyoti means light. Our name holds our purpose: to light up a life, one letter at a time.

Akshar Jyoti brings all of India Humanity Foundation’s adult literacy work under one name. Our logo — a flame rising from an open book, held up by a learner — stands for every adult who finds out that it is never too late to learn.

We reach learners in two ways: school students who teach an adult at home (DIKSHA), and trained local teachers who run village centres (VIDYA). Both follow the same 60-session course, the same tests and the same certificate.

Akshar Jyoti logo: a flame rising from an open book

“A model that depends on extraordinary people cannot be scaled, and a model that depends on ordinary ones can.”

The thinking behind Akshar Jyoti

Our vision

A fully literate India, where every adult has the confidence, skill and freedom to read, write and count.

Not literacy as a certificate — literacy as a lived, daily freedom.

Our mission

Make India totally literate.

We make literacy reachable for every adult who missed school — through a low-cost, 60-session course taught by school student volunteers and trained local teachers, in the learner’s own neighbourhood.

What guides us

  • Learning close to home

    Classes happen at the learner’s home, or at a centre a short walk away.

  • Ordinary people as teachers

    School students and local young women and men become the teachers.

  • Measured learning

    Every learner is registered, tracked session by session, tested and certified.

  • Dignity first

    We teach adults as adults — with respect and patience.

Who we teach

Adults who never had the chance to learn

India still has about 18 crore adults who cannot read or write.

Many were married young, or left school to earn for the family. Two out of every three are women — and so are most of our learners.

When parents learn to read, they take a bigger part in their children’s schooling — and their children are more likely to stay in school. As each member of the household learns, doors that were once closed begin to open.

Who is a non-literate adult?

We work with people aged 15 years and above who cannot do one or more of these:

  • Read aloud at 30 words a minute
  • Read and understand road signs, posters and newspapers
  • Understand and copy 7 words a minute
  • Take dictation at 7 words a minute
  • Read and write numbers from 1 to 100
  • Do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

The programme

One learner. Sixty sessions. A new life.

Every learner follows the same course in their own language, with the Pathan and Disha books, flash cards and writing sheets.

60

structured sessions

45–60

minutes per session

8

languages

₹600

per adult

What every learner receives

  • Learning toolkits

    Our Pathan and Disha toolkits, in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and more.

  • A personal learning passbook

    A record of every session, so progress is never lost.

  • Assessment at sessions 30 and 60

    A review after session 30, then a final test of reading, writing and numbers after session 60.

  • A certificate

    Given by IHF to every learner who passes the final test.

How we keep quality high

  • Online portal and app

    Every learner and teacher is registered, and every class is tracked.

  • Daily monitoring

    Our programme team checks attendance and class photos online every day, and supervisors visit centres in person.

  • Trained facilitators

    Every Akshar Saathi completes a 5-day fellowship before teaching.