Literacy acts as a powerful learning tool that can create abilities in human beings, promote healthy environment, creates passion for enlarging learning potential and considered as one of the important indicators of national development.

At the time of independence India had a very low literacy rate of 12.2%. “The first Minister of Education, Govt. of India, emphasized social education instead of adult education for Community Development Programmes during first five years plan. Literacy House at Lucknow was established in 1953. National Fundamental Education Centre was established in 1956. National Adult Education Programme was launched on 2^nd October 1978. On May 5, 1988, a mass campaign named “National Literacy Mission” was launched, in which a mass campaign approach was adopted to combat illiteracy. In this initial programme of 200 hours known as TLC was followed by PLC and CEP, District was chosen as the basic unit of operation.

The 1991-2001 decade is a glorious decade for literacy and adult education. According to the Economic Survey of Govt. of India 2001-2002, NLM sought to achieve full literacy i.e. a sustainable threshold level of 75% literacy by 2005. The total literacy rate of India in 2001 increased to 65.38% with male literacy 75.85% and female literacy 54.16%. But still, India had to come across with 34.62% illiterates. As compared to other states and national figures, Himachal Pradesh, too, had been on the national literacy map in a significant manner and emerged as a ‘role model’ for the hilly regions of India. The total literacy rate which was 7.3% in 1951 with male literacy rate 12.4% and female literacy rate 2.2%, has gone up to total literacy rate of 77.13% with male literacy rate 86.02% and female literacy rate 68.08% in 2001. Keeping in view the need for strengthening the literacy movement in Himachal Pradesh through continuing education programme and the necessity of inter agency linkages and academic support to be generated by nodal agencies, it was thought worthwhile to evaluate the role of academic support services in literacy movement in Himachal Pradesh in order to locate gaps and pitfalls in the organization and management of literacy campaigns and to provide feedback to the administration and other voluntary organizations to reformulate their efforts for making the dream of full literacy by 2007, a reality and achieving the goal of ‘education of all’ in near future so as to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.