Setting a model for the entire country, Kerala is all set to launch a massive total digital literacy campaign to ensure that the benefits of the state's surge as an inclusive knowledge-based society reach the grassroots level.
The drive, powered by the Kerala State IT Mission under the Department of Information Technology and Kerala Literacy Mission, is titled as 'I am also digital.
"It would be carried out in people's participatory model by roping in resource persons and instructors from the society itself down to the civic ward level across the state," an official statement said here.
The programme aims at building capacity of the whole society to enjoy benefits of digital technology including a spectrum of online services and educate people about the cybersecurity issues in the context of the spurt in cybercrimes, it said.
The campaign would seek to create public awareness about the e-governance and equip them to make use of various digital platforms through which a wide array of services are being delivered.
Educating people on the increasing significance of social media and equip them to guard against their misuse for mischievous purposes like spreading fake news would be part of the programme, it said.
The ambitious project will be pilot-launched in Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation soon, starting with the selection of 50 master trainees having a sound basic knowledge of handling online IT tools.
Along with this, five instructors from each of the 100 wards of the city would be selected.
The master trainees would instruct the ward-level instructors, who, in turn, would carry out the mission in their respective locality, it said.
People from all walks of life including government servants, college students and socially concerned individuals associated with organisations in the public domain can come forward as trainees of the campaign.
The master trainees of the programme would be awarded certificates on completion of their training, jointly by IT Mission and State Literacy Mission, to acknowledge their service, the release added.
