KOCHI: The Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA) has commenced training for instructors who have been entrusted with the task of teaching Malayalam and Hindi to migrants workers at Perumbavoor here from August 1 under its pilot literacy programme for migrant workers.
The training was held at MES College, Perumbavoor on Saturday, and 34 instructors from the college participated in the programme. Perumbavoor Municipality chairperson Sathi Jayakrishnan inaugurated the training programme while K K Krishnakumar of the KSLMA led the training classes.
The pilot programme aims to make migrant workers in the Perumbavoor municipality, the main hub of migrant workers in Kerala, fluent in Malayalam and Hindi in four months. Following this, the programme will be extended across the state.
A KSLMA statement said a meeting of instructors and ward councillors will be held in the coming days to form facilitation committees and ward committees with public participation for establishing study centres in each ward. As per the plan, one study centre each will be assigned to the literacy programme in the 27 wards in the municipality. The timings of the classes have been fixed in a flexibile manner - after 6 pm and during weekends - to ensure the migrant workers’ maximum participation without affecting their means of livelihood.
There will be at least five hours of classes weekly under the programme, Five-ten study centres of 15-20 participants will be organised under KSLMA’s Continuing Education Centres (CEC) within the municipality.The study centres, libraries, schools, other public institutions, work centres and migrants’ shelters etc will be chosen for the literacy programme.