Adult Education in India born as a structure of learning which was characterizing by great scale inter and intra-regional imbalances.The structure skilled selects little, leaving a wide gap between the skilled and the illiterate. The country’s literacy rate in 1947 was only 14 per cent and female literacy rate was abysmally low at 8 per cent.  Just one child out of three had an opportunity for enrolment in primary schools. Educational equality was forced by economic inequality, gender disparity and rigid social stratification.

Eradication of illiteracy has been one of the chief general concerns of the Government of India since Independence.  The require for a cultured people and worldwide education for all children in the age group 6-14 was recognized as a central input for nation building and was given due consideration in organization as well as in the successive five-year plans.  A quantity of significant programmers has been taken up since Independence to destroy illiteracy among adults. 

There are few main points about Adult Education:

Community Education:
The chief elements were literacy, extension, general education, management training and social awareness.   The programmed was implementing in the First Five-Year Plan (1951-56).

Gram Shikshan Mohim :
Group for literacy in the rural areas was in progress from 1959 in Satara district of Maharashtra, and was later complete to other parts of the state. The programme aimed at imparting essential literacy skills within a period of about four months. The programme, though, suffer from require of systematic follow-up which resulted in relapse to illiteracy.

Farmers’ Functional Literacy Project:
Verdan Started in 1967-68 as an inter-ministerial development for farmers’ training and useful literacy, the project aimed at popularization of high-yielding varieties of seed throughout the development of adult education.  The programme was confined to 144 districts of the country where almost 8,640 classes were prepared for about 2.6 lakh adults.