Sina Hasta, a guest labourer from Odisha, was initiated into the world letters one year back when Fisheries Minister J.Mercykutty Amma guided his index finger to scribble ‘Om Harisree Ganapathaye Nama’ on a platter full of rice.
One more Vijayadashami has passed and now he, along with some of his friends, are very comfortable with the language and its 51 alphabets.
Students of Changathi, the Malayalam literacy programme launched by the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority for migrant workers, happily recited ‘Ini varunnoru thalamurakku’ when the Minister visited them with a couple of UN representatives in their study centre at Palathara on Sunday.
A good number of guest labourers residing and working in the area had signed up for Malayalam classes last year. The Minister congratulated them for learning to read and write the language in such a short span of time and even joined Sina, Hari Marmi and Tanu in singing.
UN representatives Ramu Damodaran and Saji.C. Thomas, who accompanied the Minister during the visit, observed that the study centres are an ideal indicator of the fact that the developmental activities are reaching the grassroots level.
Changathi aims to make the guest labourers from various States of India literate in Malayalam along with introducing them to an array of healthy lifestyle changes.
263 study centres
KSLMA had started 263 study centres across the State, most of them near the labourers’ settlements and work place.
To popularise the four-month course ‘Hamari Malayalam,’ the textbook of the Changathi project, was recently published in digital format so that it reaches out to maximum people through pictures.
