KOZHIKODE: When constitutional principles are being hotly debated in the context of Sabarimala women’s entry issue, more than 70,000 literacy students will don the role of instructors across the state to make people aware of the Constitution and its values. The two-month programme, to be launched by Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, aims to take constitutional values to every local body ward in the state.
“Even though we’re much forward in terms of education, evils such as caste discrimination, superstition and religious fundamentalism are also gaining ground in society. It’s in this context the Constitutional literacy programme is being conducted,” state literacy mission director P S Sreekala said.
The history behind the framing of the Constitution, fundamental rights, secularism, beliefs, individual freedom and gender equality will be the thrust of the literacy programme. Around 70,000 students of class 10 and higher secondary equivalency courses will be the instructors.
Each equivalency course student will impart classes to one person from among 15 houses in the locality. Already around 5,000 people are officially part of the literacy mission as instructors, whose services will be used to conduct meetings in each local body ward to explain constitutional values to the people.
The literacy mission also plans to deploy 2,000 literacy instructors to set up ‘people’s committees’ that will further take forward the programme to the grassroots level.