March 2025 | 1679 words | 6-minute read
TCS' Literacy as a Service (LaaS) programme
Tata Consultancy Services' Literacy as a Service (LaaS) program is revolutionizing literacy by teaching foundational, digital, and financial skills using AI, personalized content, and cloud technology. Launched in 2000, LaaS has helped over 24 lakh people become literate across India and in Africa, in multiple languages. It addresses India's challenge of having the world's largest adult illiterate population, aiming to enhance socio-economic conditions and empower communities. The program, evolved from TCS's earlier literacy initiatives, includes diverse learning methods and has expanded to include various literacies. Partnerships with NGOs, governments, and other Tata entities have broadened its impact, aiming to empower 10 crore people by 2030.
TCS' Literacy as a Service (LaaS) programme
Tata Consultancy Services' Literacy as a Service (LaaS) program is transforming lives by equipping millions with essential literacy skills using advanced technology. LaaS utilizes cloud-based, personalized content in native languages and artificial intelligence to teach functional, digital, and financial literacy, addressing one of India's significant social challenges. India has the world's largest population of adult non-literates, with about 65% of these individuals being women. Launched in 2000, LaaS has evolved from TCS's Computer-Based Functional Literacy initiative, inspired by founder Dr. Kohli, aiming to enhance societal participation through literacy.
Empowering communities: LaaS has made a significant impact, helping about 24 lakh individuals become functionally literate, using cost-effective and time-efficient methods compared to traditional approaches. The program covers basic education and extends to financial and digital literacy, improving self-reliance and community participation. Initially started in Hyderabad, LaaS now operates across 21 Indian states and in Africa, and is available in multiple languages. Collaborations with NGOs, state departments, and rural missions have broadened its reach.
Transformative techniques: LaaS employs innovative teaching methods tailored for adults, reducing cognitive load and incorporating behavioral science insights to make learning engaging. About 25 people can complete a module in three to four months, with continuous improvements based on feedback.
Shared goals: Aiming to make 10 crore people literate by 2030, TCS collaborates with various government and private entities to replicate the success of LaaS. The program's effectiveness is evident in states like Madhya Pradesh, where it transformed 11 lakh lives in a year.
Volunteering spirit: The Each One Empowers One initiative leverages TCS and other Tata companies' volunteers to spread digital and financial literacy, enhancing the program's impact through a community-driven approach.
Unlocking new futures: LaaS has also been introduced in prisons, aiding in the rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates, with a notable implementation in Bhaderwah Jail, Jammu. This initiative underscores TCS's commitment to using education as a tool for societal transformation, aiming to reach ambitious targets by 2030.
TCS' Literacy as a Service (LaaS) programme
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched a transformative initiative called Literacy as a Service (LaaS), which aims to provide foundational literacy skills to millions, addressing one of India's most pressing social challenges. LaaS utilizes advanced technologies such as algorithmic learning paths, cloud-based personalized vernacular content, and artificial intelligence to impart functional, digital, and financial literacy in native languages. The program targets the largest demographic of non-literates aged 15 and above, which constitutes nearly 40% of the global illiterate adult population.
The initiative began in 2000, evolving from TCS's earlier Adult Literacy Program, envisioned by TCS founder Dr. Kohli. LaaS has significantly impacted over 24 lakh individuals by employing cost-effective and time-efficient methods compared to traditional educational approaches. Initially focusing on reading, writing, and arithmetic, the program has expanded to include financial and digital literacy, awareness of citizen entitlements, and disaster risk reduction literacy. It operates across 21 Indian states and union territories and has extended to Africa, offering content in multiple languages.
To ensure widespread access and impact, TCS collaborates with NGOs, state literacy departments, and rural livelihood missions, leveraging government infrastructure where possible. The program addresses last-mile challenges to reach the most needy, exemplified by stories of individuals like Tara Devi from Uttar Pradesh, who, after participating in LaaS, transitioned from being exploited at a brick kiln to running her own store and managing her finances.
LaaS has also empowered individuals like Parvatibai from Madhya Pradesh, who gained respect and efficiency in her work environment by learning to sign her name, elevating her socio-economic status. The program's goals have evolved to include broader financial and digital literacy, aiming to enhance participants' ability to manage finances, use digital platforms, and access government services, thereby improving their quality of life and economic opportunities.
The effectiveness of LaaS has been demonstrated through significant improvements in self-confidence, economic activity, and community involvement among participants. Innovative teaching methods tailored to adults, incorporating multimedia tools and peer learning, facilitate engaging and relevant education. Trainers, known as Preraks, are equipped to deliver tailored content that resonates with the learners' cultural contexts.
Looking forward, TCS aims to scale up LaaS to reach 10 crore people by 2030, encouraging other organizations to adopt similar missions. Collaborations with state governments and institutions like the Rotary Club of Mumbai and the Tata Steel Foundation have already shown promising results, with large numbers of participants passing national examinations and achieving literacy milestones.
Additionally, TCS has adapted LaaS to special contexts such as prisons, where it contributes to the reformation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of inmates, further proving the program's adaptability and impact. The volunteer-driven Each One Empowers One initiative within the Tata ecosystem exemplifies a scalable model of community involvement and empowerment through literacy education.
In conclusion, TCS's LaaS program not only addresses the immediate needs of literacy but also fosters long-term socio-economic benefits by integrating financial and digital literacy, thus contributing significantly to India's development goals and enhancing individual and community empowerment.
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Using the theory of cognition and laws of perception, Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) Literacy as a Service (LaaS) programme leverages algorithmic learning paths, cloud-based personalised vernacular content and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to impart functional, digital and financial literacy to empower non-literates. The programme is provided in native languages and aims to tackle one of India’s most persistent social challenges.
“India is home to the largest population of 15+ -year-old non-literates in the world and accounts for nearly 40% of illiterate adults globally,” says Balaji Ganapathy, Chief Social Responsibility Officer, TCS. “Of these, about 65% are women, intensifying their struggles further. India’s aspiration to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and a $7 trillion economy by 2030 can only happen if we bridge this inequality and take all our citizens along.”
With this thought in mind, TCS launched LaaS, its adult literacy programme to empower people in their native languages, in 2000. LaaS is an evolution of TCS’ Adult Literacy Program (ALP), a Computer-Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) initiative. “The idea behind ALP came from Dr Kohli, our founder,” says Mr Ganapathy. “He had the vision to start a programme that would help adults become literate and participate more fully in society.”
Transformative techniques
LaaS incorporates innovative learning methodologies and insights in behavioural science to reduce the cognitive load on the learner and trainer, making learning fun in the process. “How we teach adults differs from how we teach children,” Mr Ganapathy explains. “Adults already know words and have a vocabulary; what they don’t know is the correlation between the written word and the one they hear.”
To bridge the gap, LaaS helps learners to read, write and understand a word bank of 500 frequently used words in their target language. Trainers from TCS’ partner NGOs use a mix of puppet theatre, role play, teaching software, multimedia presentations and printed material to teach the learners in peer group learning sessions. Volunteer trainers or Preraks are equipped with laptops and are trained to teach learners by relating the course curriculum to scenarios around them. The role-play scenarios change as per the cultural context of the learner. It takes three to four months for a group of about 25 people to go through a module. The learnings from each batch are used to improve the experience for future batches.
Empowering communities
Using a combination of graphics, sound patterns and language structure, LaaS has transformed the lives of over 24 lakh people by helping them become functionally literate in a fraction of the cost and time used by traditional methods. TCS’ literacy offering started with the core idea that participants should learn the three Rs: reading simple text, writing their names, words and sentences and basic arithmetic calculations. It has gone on to add new offerings, including financial literacy, digital literacy, awareness on key citizen entitlements and disaster risk reduction literacy.
The programme started in Hyderabad and is now available across 21 Indian states and union territories, and Africa. It is available in nine Indian languages — Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu — and three foreign languages — Arabic, Sotho and Mooré. To expand its reach, TCS has partnered with NGOs in India and abroad, state literacy departments and rural livelihood missions, often using government machinery. “The programme needs to create an impact at the grassroots level,” says Mr Ganapathy. “There are last-mile hurdles that we need to overcome to ensure that the programme reaches those who need it the most.”
Learning to stand tall
The lack of literacy, including financial and digital literacy, prevents people from getting high-paying jobs or managing their assets efficiently. They are also unable to maintain a credit history, avail of loans or make digital transactions. A valuable social by-product of literacy is the ability to protect yourself from being cheated. As in the case of Tara Devi and her family, residents of Bhaipur Khurd village in Uttar Pradesh, who worked at a brick kiln for nearly 16 hours each day, receiving a pittance for their labour. Unable to calculate their wages, they were often exploited by middlemen. When LaaS started in Bhaipur Khurd, TCS’ NGO partner in the district brought Tara Devi to the literacy centre. With the help of daily lessons, she learnt to read in Hindi and do simple arithmetic. Today, she runs a small general goods store and personally maintains her own accounts, even managing to send her children to school.
In Kumthi village in Madhya Pradesh, 52-year-old Parvatibai, a farm labourer and a student in LaaS’ Nai Disha project, is embracing the change that comes with knowing how to read and write. “We receive daily wages… We have to stand in a queue and wait for the employers to fetch the stamp pad to put the thumb impression on the declaration sheet before they hand us the money, while the ones who can sign their names get their wages in a matter of minutes,” she says. “The look on their face on the first day I signed my name after learning to write through the LaaS classes will never be forgotten by me,” says a beaming Parvatibai.
New avatar
“The outcomes that we are aiming for have shifted over the years,” says Mr Ganapathy. “Earlier, our goal was reading, writing and arithmetic. Today, it also includes financial literacy — helping people build financial assets, use financial services, do financial transactions, financial management — and using digital services, digital assets, digital management and accessing basic citizen entitlements.”
Besides protecting people’s interests, LaaS’ upgraded version has another goal. “It is a pathway to livelihood,” says Mr Ganapathy. “The quality-of-life parameters also start to show an upward trajectory because of the intentionality of connecting to livelihoods and future opportunities.”
The results are encouraging. An assessment of LaaS’ impact in the target states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh revealed that the initiative had led to a 70% increase in self-confidence and self-esteem. The evaluation also reported a 68% increase in mobility to markets and banks and in the use of mobile phones, a 41% increase in financial and economic activities and a 68% increase in leadership qualities and decision-making. There was also a 58% increase in their socio-cultural status and community participation.
Shared goals
“We believe that if we can enable 10 crore people to be literate by 2030, it will generate enough momentum to encourage other organisations to adopt it as a national mission,” says Mr Ganapathy. Towards this goal, TCS started collaborating with state governments and other institutions three years ago, offering their expertise and technical assistance to replicate the programme where needed.
The State Literacy Mission Authority of Madhya Pradesh implemented the programme in 2022-23, transforming 11 lakh lives. In March 2023, a large number of these students appeared for the National Institute of Open Schooling examinations, marking the largest number of formerly illiterate people passing the test in a single year. This phenomenal success assured TCS of the viability and robustness of its offering.
The Rotary Club of Mumbai has also incorporated LaaS into its own literacy programme being run in the slums of Dharavi and in Palghar near Mumbai, impacting the lives of 10,500 women through a single partnership. Over the last eight months, TCS has been building on Tata Steel Foundation’s (TSF) Masti ki Pathshala programme by improving the literacy of the school children’s parents. The programme has yielded remarkable results. Not only is the children’s confidence increasing, their perception of their parents and their capabilities is changing too. Children feel happy about their parents’ growth, a greater sense of pride and a stronger bond with them, bringing about behavioural changes in the family.
As part of its collaboration with the Tata Sustainability Group (TSG), LaaS has empowered 12,000 women in Cyclone Fani-impacted Puri district in Odisha.
Unlocking new futures
In 2021, working with Jammu University, TCS introduced LaaS at Bhaderwah Jail, in Jammu, and has helped 185 prisoners so far. The programme assists in the 3Rs — Reformation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration — of the penal system, playing an important role in equipping inmates to lead a normal life on release. At the prison, TCS used the train-the-trainer approach to create a ripple effect of moral and educational development. Inmates who had studied at least up to Std 10, and displayed leadership qualities, were trained to become Preraks and run the LaaS centre, teaching fellow inmates. The centre has had a successful run — a 100% literacy rate for all batches.
Volunteering spirit
While LaaS has enjoyed success from the beginning, the sheer scale of the issue demanded a more democratised approach, leading to the creation of Each One Empowers One — TCS’ volunteer-led intuitive digital literacy platform. Its association with TSG and volunteers from TCS, Tata Power, Tata AutoComp Systems, Tata Metaliks, TSF and other Tata companies is a key part of the programme.
“The volunteer model is built using the principles of design thinking and journey mapping,” says Mr Ganapathy. “TCS volunteers are enablers, playing the role of the Prerak/facilitator.” The platform enables anyone in the Tata ecosystem to become a TCS literacy champion and empower those around them with financial and digital literacy. It currently has 4,700+ volunteers and is accessible in nine Indian languages and offers an engaging experience with training, videos, assessments and digital certificates for volunteers and beneficiaries.
TCS is continuing to innovate the programme design and expand partnerships to meet its goal of transforming 10 crore lives by 2030. The scale of the challenge might seem massive, but so is the strength of TCS’ determination to achieve its goals.
—Cynthia Rodrigues
