Kollam: A wave of literacy is blowing across the coastal hamlets of Kerala as part of Kerala State Literacy Mission’s ‘Akshara Sagaram’ project being implemented with the help of fisheries department.
Some 3,000 fishermen community members will appear for examinations at 70 centres in Kollam, Kozhikode and Ernakulam on November 25, where the second phase of the project has been implemented.
A total of 3,004 aspirants have registered for examinations, of whom 2,638 are women. Kozhikode district has the highest number of candidates – 1209, Kollam – 1152 and Ernakulam 643. Those who pass the examination can join the course for Class IV equivalency.
The project is implemented in 234 wards under 36 local self-government bodies identified as the least literate. As many as 204 instructors have been appointed by the mission to implement the project. These instructors are from the coastal area who have completed their SSLC.
The major beneficiaries of the project include fishermen who are illiterate, school dropouts, physically and mentally challenged and those who failed in standard IV.
The curriculum has also been revised for the first time since the mission was constituted in 1998 to include topics associated with the lives of fishermen, – including on sea, jobs associated with the sea and on mud banks or ‘chakara.’ Examinations will be conducted for a total of 100 marks, including reading, writing and mathematics. The candidates should score a pass mark of 30, proportionally divided among the topics.
The first phase of ‘Akshara Sagaram’ was implemented in Thiruvan-anthauram, Malappuram and Kasargod districts in which 3,568 candidates passed the literacy examination.
According to the census of 2011, there were 18 lakh illiterate people and the majority of them were from coastal areas. The mission aims at imparting literacy and continuing education programmes under ‘Akshara Sagaram’ project in coastal areas across the state.
