Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Nov 10, 2006
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Nov 10, 2006 ePaper |
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Industry & Economy
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Rural Development Info-Tech - E-Governance States - Kerala Farm hands log into digital landscape Our Bureau
Thiruvananthapuram , Nov. 9
What happens when the hands that plough the fields plod through the keyboards of computers? A harvest as rich as the ones they have grown from their fields, as farmers in a village in Kannur district have proved. Farmers in Sreekantapuram panchayat have proved that they can plough not just their fields but also the great digital landscape by logging into the `Akshaya' e-literacy during their spare time. In the process, they have secured for Sreekantapuram the distinction of being a fully e-literate panchayat, the first to achieve the norm in the second stage of the Akshaya initiative spearheaded by the State Government. Being implemented in seven out of the 14 districts of Kerala, Akshaya takes e-literacy to the masses with its grassroots-level learning model. In Sreekantapuram, at least 5,300 families spread over 19 wards participated in the project. All of them managed to achieve the literacy norm.
Women empowerment
They did it in a short span of 11 months. Significantly, the drive also resulted in considerable women's empowerment, since over 65 per cent of the learners were women. All are now waiting for November 11 when the State Health Minister, Ms P.K. Sreemathy, would join them at a colourful function to witness a tribal learner formally declare the panchayat fully e-literate.
More services
"Once the drive is over, the Akshaya centres would facilitate continuing education in computer and deliver various services like e-pay. Around 20 panchayats in the State are very close to achieving cent percent e-literacy," says Mr T. K. Manzoor, Director, Akshaya. Sreekantapuram is one of the few rural outbacks of the semi-urban Kerala with almost every family engaged in farming. The demand for the Akshaya e-learning initiative was such that as many as 52 sub-centres had to be opened in different parts of this sprawling panchayat. The Kamblari and Valliyad scheduled tribe colonies in Sreekantapuram had earned a reputation for themselves by becoming two of the first ST colonies to become cent per cent e-literate.
More Stories on : Rural Development | E-Governance | Education | Kerala
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