Kerala does it again! Ropes in tribal teachers to impart literacy among adults

Thiruvananthapuram, March 21: Kerala never fails to amaze the masses in terms as a state of progress and development. In a new attempt to show its diversified talent to enhance the literacy rate in the state among the adults, Kerala will rope in qualified tribal instructors to impart literacy in their respective settlements.

 

For the first time in the history of the state the initiative, fronted by the Kerala Literacy Mission, seeks to replace outside teachers with educated members of various tribes (even if they have minimum qualifications) after giving them expert training.

PS Sreekala, Director, Kerala Literacy Mission, said, "This is one of the special missions by the state government to improve literacy rates among tribal populations. Instructors from tribal villages will educate residents in their settlements who are above 15 years of age.”

Sreekala added that the programme will focus on tribal colonies, including those from the inner districts of Attappady in Palakkad and Wayand. With the help of the Scheduled Tribes Development Department, they have also identified 100 villages from the most backward areas across the state for the initiative.

For participants, the programme will provide a platform to pursue higher education in the future. Those who have enrolled in this programme (which comes under non-formal education for adults) can later even enrol for the equivalence or formal education courses for adults and get degrees.

A total of 370 tribal instructors, including 100 handpicked from the most backward villages across Kerala, will be trained to take on the responsibility. The state government will provide these instructors with expert training to equip them to educate their colonies.

This is just the beginning of our efforts to improve literacy in the tribal hamlets of Kerala. Our aim is to integrate these tribal people into the mainstream by achieving their overall upliftment. And the start to that is education.