KOZHIKODE: In a bid to fill the academic gap between parents and students, the district panchayat is gearing up for an ambitious scheme titled ‘Arumakkoppam Arivilek’. The initiative aims to enrol parents of school students who had discontinued education for the Kerala Literacy Mission’s equivalency examination. In the initial stage, 7,000 parents of SSLC and Higher Secondary students will be enrolled next month for the Class 10 and Plus-One equivalency examinations, respectively.
District Literacy Mission coordinator P Prasanth Kumar said ‘Arumakkoppam Arivilek’ is a joint initiative of the Literacy Mission and district panchayat. The scheme will be implemented in a phased manner with the support of local bodies across the district. “We have already initiated discussions with the local bodies. The first phase is expected to be launched by October with 3,500 students each in Class 10 and Plus-One,” he said.
According to Prasanth, the project aims to aid the parents who struggle to help their children with their studies. “Involvement of parents in educational activities of students is important. However, majority of the parents often struggle to take responsibility as they are school dropouts. The project will address the issue by helping them continue with their education. It will be executed with the support of block and grama panchayats,” he said.
Each grama panchayat will identify such parents in its limits with the support of school PTAs while the Literacy Mission will arrange special classes for them in their respective local body limits on Sundays. Each batch will have a minimum of 50 parents.
Meanwhile, Prasanth said those who want to enrol in the Plus-Two equivalency examination should pass Class 10. “So, if a parent of higher secondary students is yet to pass Class 10, we will arrange facility for them to finish Class 10 equivalency examination first. Similarly, those who haven’t passed Classes 7 and 4 won’t be eligible to enroll for Class 10 and 7 examinations. For them, we will make arrangements to complete the lower class examinations,” he said.