Reinforcing the relevance of a reliable and comfortable mode of public transport, as many as 170 schoolchildren travelled along with Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in Kochi metro on Saturday.
This was part of Prathibhatheeram, an informal education programme run by select public libraries in the coastal wards of Alappuzha, to address low education standards among schoolchildren from the fisherfolk community.
The Minister and the joyous children boarded a metro train from Maharaja’s College station, travelled 18 km up to Aluva and alighted at Edappally. Mr. Isaac shared jokes and posed for selfies during the fun ride. The children were then taken to the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS).
Prathibhatheeram was launched, as a situation analysis had pointed out relatively poor grades among the students. About half of the high school students cannot even write Malayalam properly. Owing to inadequate mathematical training, the performance of almost all students in the subject is poor. Their computer experience too is hardly 10 hours per year.
