From just a little over 10,000 candidates last year, the literacy examination conducted by the Kerala State Literacy Mission has witnessed a massive jump in participation this year.
In all, 35,621 candidates sat for the exam compared to 10,076 persons last year. As much as 82% of the candidates this time, at 29,397 were women.
Thankappan, 95, who sat for the examination at Nedunukunnam grama panchayat, Kottayam, was the oldest candidate. Babu, 14, of Shambhuveli colony, Kollam, was the youngest.
The exam was conducted as part of the Mikavutsavam campaign of the mission. Among the districts, Thiruvananthapuram accounted for the highest number of candidates at 5,137.
Mission director P.S. Sreekala attributed the increase to a special literacy campaign conducted in 2,000 colonies from April 1, 2019, as part of the celebrations marking the LDF government’s 1,000 days in office.
Part of the campaign
As many as 31,653 of the candidates who sat for the exam were part of this campaign, and 1,762 candidates were part of the Navachetana literacy programme for Scheduled Caste colonies while 2,206 examinees were part of the Aksharasagaram campaign for colonies in the coastal belt.
The mission had selected tribal, SC and coastal colonies for its 2,000-colony special literacy programme.
According to the literacy mission, majority of the continuing education centres started in 1998 under the literacy programme was concentrated in the cities and towns.
This resulted in a situation where colonies and marginalised sections got sidelined.
The mission, as part of the campaign launched in April last year, had extended the services of 2,000 preraks to the selected colonies.
Since the effort had borne fruit, the mission intended to extend their activities to nearby colonies also, Ms. Sreekala said.
