Over 41,000 women from the Sangareddy District of Telengana state have cleared their Telugu examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
Many of these women are part of the various Self-Help Group (SHG’s) but lacked proper literacy.
The Saksham Bharat program imparts functional literacy and numeracy. But the district lacked coordinators.
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It was here that District Collector Manicka Raj Kannan initiated the ‘Ammaku Akshara Mala’, an innovative governance initiative and roped in young school going children from Class 7 to Class 10. They were tasked with teaching basic Telugu and Mathematics to their mothers during their summer break.
In March 2018, over 48000 women cleared the exams conducted by the NIOS. It is this year that over 41,000 women cleared the exams.
These women will now be empowered and can be employed in tasks that involve basic literacy and numeracy.
Normally 4000-5000 neo-literates take the examination conducted by the NIOS from every district. However, the district administration requested the authorities to increase the number.
As of Census 2011, only 74% of Indians were considered to be literate. Initiatives such as this will help this number increase.