VELLORE: An event to commemorate the silver jubilee of the ‘Arivoli Iyakkam’ literacy movement is being organised by its volunteers in Ambur on September 6.
According to the secretary of the reception committee of this movement K Senthamizh Selvan, the movement was started in Vellore in 1991 as a trend setter for the State and the country.
“We remember taking the literacy movement to the people as a second war of independence. Vellore, which had sown the seed for the first war of independence, had also laid a strong foundation for the literacy movement. The Vellore model became a national scheme later,” recalled Senthamizh Selvan.
In order to recognise the efforts put in by the volunteers of this movement, the volunteers are arranging a State-level conference on September 6 in Ambur where they will also review the contribution by the movement.
He said over 50,000 volunteers from across the State had associated themselves with the movement and had put in free service without expecting any remuneration for their work.
They helped in converting the government scheme into a people’s movement. The Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Folk Artists Association had helped in creating impressive street plays, songs and cultural programmes that had a compelling impact on the rural people to elevate their interest in education.
The movement has had an enormous impact on the society, Selvan noted. Many villagers who had taken part in the movement have now become leaders, employed in good positions, or as good home-makers, raising their own kids with a focus on education.
He said Education Minister K C Veeramani, MLAs and MPs from the district, and the district collector would be participating in the conference.
Dr Venkatesh Athreya, State coordinator of the movement and the former collectors of the district who had shown exemplary involvement in the movement, Kurshithya Gandhi and Sheela Rani Chunkath, would share their experience.
The conference will also have cultural shows, special addresses by short film directors Vela Ramamoorthy and Karuna, which will mark the valediction.