Though age has brought wrinkles to her skin, K G Kamalamma, hailing from Kottayam, still remembers the days when she led the classes for illiterates, more than two decades ago, as part of the literacy movement.
According to her, people have now lost the passion that once motivated her to volunteer. She is unaware of the current literacy campaign spearheaded by Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA).
Twenty four years after Kottayam Municipal Town was declared the first fully literate municipal town in India in June, 1989, things have changed a lot, raising serious questions on the effectiveness of the prevailing literacy programme.
Kerala crossed a significant achievement on April 18, 1991, by acquiring the status of the first fully literate state in India. As per the UNESCO’s guidelines a state would be considered as fully literate when it achieves over 90 per cent literacy. According to experts, even though there is a slight increase in the literacy rate this cannot be considered as a significant growth compared to the big leap shown by Tripura (60.44 pc; 73.66 pc and 94.75 pc in 1991, 2001 and 2013 respectively).
“Literacy was a passion during end of 80s and the people had volunteered to teach and to be taught. But the interest waned after the state achieved total literacy. This attitude has to be changed,” says former MLA Alphons Kannamthanam, who played a key role in making Kottayam the country’s first fully literate municipality.