The Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority is gearing up to launch a drive to educate the illiterate among the more than 25 lakh migrant labourers in Kerala.
The project will be formally launched on December 12 at Perumbavoor by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
It is estimated that 75 per cent of the total migrant labour population in Kerala is aged between 18 and 29. While a majority of such labourers can speak Hindi, they cannot read and write, a Literacy Mission press note issued here on Wednesday said.
Illiteracy causes them to face various kinds of exploitation at workplaces. Owing to insufficient knowledge of health, law and environment, their quality of life is very low. The primary aim of the mission’s project is to identify the illiterate among migrant labourers and to make them literate in Hindi and Malayalam. All migrant labourers aged above 15 would be included in the project.
In addition to topics related to health, law and environment, awareness sessions on Kerala’s social and cultural life will also be held as part of the literacy drive. Programmes designed to bring about a qualitative change in the attitude of Malayalis towards the migrant labourers will also be held.
The literacy drive would be executed as a public campaign via the Vidya Kendras under the supervision of local bodies. Cooperation would also be sought from the Local Self-Government Department, the Labour Department, the Department of Social Welfare, Kudumbasree, the State Library Council, the Youth Welfare Board, District Institute of Education and Training and the State Resource Centre. Organising committees will be set up at the municipal and ward levels. Backup committees will be set up in each class.
A survey will be conducted on January 1, 2017 to identify the drive’s beneficiaries. Classes will begin during the first week of February and will be conducted at places where migrant labourers live, libraries, Vidya Kendras, schools and at other public places. Instructors and coordinators will be appointed on a temporary basis. Classes will be held on the basis of specially prepared literacy primers. Digital learning material too will be used.
A literacy examination will be held in the end of June 2017. Those who clear the programme will be given certificates by the Mission on World Literacy Day, 2017. They will also be given the opportunity for continuing education through the equivalency programmes of the Mission.
eom/gmd
