Civic polls bring cheer to Ker Literacy Mission as its 859 personnel win

The recent civic bodypolls in Kerala has brought laurels to the state's LiteracyMission Authority as over 850 people, including those pursuingits various equivalency programmes, and its instructors andpreraks have won and many have been elected to key posts.

The total of 859 persons include 763 learners of theAuthority's various programmes, 49 preraks and 47 instructors.

KSLM officials here said the victory of personnelassociated with the agency was also the achievement of thenovel informal education system, being implemented by themwhich focuses on the social awareness beyond just literacy andcontinuing education.

Of the total elected KSLM personnel, 46 people wereselected as presidents and 35 as vice-presidents of variouslocal bodies across the state.

KSLM Director P S Sreekala said the opportunities theygot, especially those from the marginalised communities,including tribals through the literacy mission, had asignificant role in their election victory.

Most number of learners of the literacy or continuingeducation programmes won from northern Malappuram district-205, she said.

Besides them, 3 preraks and 3 instructors were alsoelected, taking the total number of KSLM people'srepresentatives from Malappuram to 211.

A total of 98 people have been elected from Palakkaddistrict, Kozhikode-76, Thiruvananthapuram-37, Kollam-35,Wayanad-61, Alappuzha-24, Kottayam-38, Ernakulam-45, Idukki-26, Kannur-69, Kasaragod-59, Pathanamthitta-21 and so on, asper the figures.

''My participation in various social literacy andempowerment programmes by the Mission has helped me a lot tobe more active in public work,''Omana Ramesh, recently electedpresident of Meppadi village panchayat in Wayanad, told PTI.

A member of the Thachanadan Muppar tribal community,Omana was a first year student of the higher secondaryequivalency programme of the Literacy Mission.

She was also an active participant in the KSLM's recentsurvey to find illiterates among tribals in Wayanad and in theawareness programmes in connection with tribal empowerment.

She had earlier passed the SSLC equivalency programme ofthe Literacy Mission.

KSLMA is an autonomous institution under the GeneralEducation Department, Government of Kerala, which aims toeradicate illiteracy in various strata of society.