A 96-year-old woman will be among the 40,363 people taking the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority’s Aksharalaksham literacy examination on Sunday.
Karthyayani Amma of Cheppad, Haripad, in Alappuzha district is the oldest of the examinees in the State. She will appear for the exam at Government Lower Primary School, Kanichanelloor, Cheppad. Aksharalaksham is a project of the mission to achieve numerical cent per cent literacy. It targets those in the 16-75 age group.
The Aksharalaksham first phase examination will begin at 10 a.m. Of the 40,363 examinees, as many as 29,500 are women. The maximum number of people appearing for the examination is from Thiruvananthapuram district, at 9,074. The least is from Kottayam, at 711.
The examinees will be tested on reading, writing, and Mathematics in the 100-mark paper. The examinees need to secure at least 30 marks to pass — at least nine marks out of 30 in reading, 12 out of 40 in writing, and nine out of 30 in Mathematics.
A survey held as part of Aksharalaksham in 2,010 wards had found 47,241 illiterates. Of these, 46,349 started attending classes on January 26, and 40,363 are appearing for Sunday’s examination.
The survey had found the maximum number of illiterates in Palakkad district, at 10,348, and the least in Pathanamthitta, at 434. The second phase of Aksharalaksham will be implemented in one local self-government institution in each district.
