THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finding English and Hindi too tough to handle? Help is at hand. The State Literacy Mission authority is all set to launch two courses - ‘Good English’ and ‘Achchi Hindi’ aimed at those who are interested in improving their language skills. The syllabus has been designed in a such a manner that those who enroll in the courses will be able to achieve proficiency in Hindi and English in a span of four months.
“In the formal education system, a three-language format already exists. In such a scenario, literacy mission courses will equip people to handle the three languages - Malayalam, Hindi and English - with ease,” Literacy Mission director P S Sreekala said. Any person above the age of 17 years can enroll for the two courses. In order to suit the schedule of working professionals and students, the classes will be held on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm.
Block-level implementation
The classes will be held in schools which will be converted into literacy centres in the weekend and also on holidays. The number of literacy centres will be increased based on the enrollment rate. Retired teachers and educated youth who are proficient in English and Hindi will be selected as instructors for the programme. The instructors will be provided honorarium based on the nominal fee collected from the students.
Courses a hit
According to a literacy mission officer, courses such as ‘Pachchamalayalam’ for improving Malayalam proficiency and ‘Changathi’ for migrant population are seeing a steady rise in enrollment.
The other popular programmes launched recently by the literacy mission include,’’ an equivalency course for transgender people and ‘Aksharasagaram’ aimed at improving literacy in coastal areas.