10,000 students volunteer to spread knowledge as a part of Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority's free literacy project

Contrary to the wide speculation that students are becoming bookworms and their social values are degrading. As many as 10,000 students in the city have volunteered to take up a survey as part of the Aksharasree literacy and equivalence project to prove that social literacy is an integral part of education. The survey of all 100 wards under the city corporation to be launched on July 14.

A meeting involving various ward conveners and teachers of several institutions to discuss about the survey was held on Tuesday. Special meetings were called under the leadership of resident's association in the wards to familiarise the volunteers with the conditions there.

The Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority has rolled off a free literacy project 'Aksharasree', in association with the city corporation. It is launched as part of the General Education Rejuvenation Mission of the State government and will be piloted in the city before being expanded across the State.

"The total budget of the project was estimated to be Rs 3 crores. The complete fund for the project will be handled by the corporation. Those who dropped out can also pursue equivalent courses up to the higher secondary level for free of cost under this project," said P S Sreekala, Director of Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority.

The mission aims to connect extra curriculum activities (informal education) with formal education to create a healthy learning environment. The students have come forward for the survey under the supervision of NSS volunteers of various higher secondary schools and colleges in the corporation.

A total of 2.5 lakh houses are registered under the city corporation. The houses in each ward will be divided into the cluster of 50 houses for the survey. With a total of 5000 clusters formed, two students will be deployed to each team. The survey team will include mission staffs, residents association, ward members, social activists, and librarians from various wards.

The classes for those beneficiaries identified under the survey will begin from August 15. From each ward, 25 students will be selected through this survey. Therefore, a total of 2500 students will participate in the first phase of the project.

The classes will be for a duration of 3 months and those students who qualify the examination can join the next equivalent course which will be for a period of 6 months.

In the first batch of aksharasree, 1500 students can enroll for Xth standard and 1000 students can participate for XIIth standard equivalent courses. The students can also make available of libraries

Organising committees have been set up at ward and Corporation level to ensure that each person becomes literate. The Mayor will be the chairperson of the Corporation level organising committee and councillors will be the chairperson at the ward level.