The Neo-literates under Sakshar Bharat Mission have been associated by the Chhattisgarh government with Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to engage them in income-generating activities like mushroom farming, officials stated. The Sakshar Bharat Mission has illuminated entire Surguja district of Chhattisgarh with the light of knowledge and literacy, they stated.
Other than Surguja district, two development blocks namely Tilda (Raipur district) and Ambagarh Chowki (Rajnandgaon district), and five Gram Panchayats of the State namely Uparwah (Rajnandgaon district), Jhirmiti (Sarguja district), Mohandi (Mahasamund district), Borgaon (Kondagaon district), and Teknar (Dantewada district) have also attained success in significantly elevating literacy rate under Sakshar Bharat Programme.
In the award ceremony organized by State literacy Mission Authority on Thursday, Governor Balramji Dass Tandon conferred State literacy Award on Surguja district, aforementioned two development blocks and five Gram Panchayats under Sakshar Bharat Mission.
He also awarded 62 motivators and instructors associated with this national level programme for their excellent performance. The Governor congratulated all the winners on the occasion. School Education and Scheduled Caste Development Minister Kedar Kashyap attended the award ceremony as special guest of the occasion.
Notably, the Sakshar Bharat Mission is being conducted in all the districts of state through District-level Public Education Committees headed by respective Collectors and Gram Panchayat-level Public Education Committees led by respective Sarpanchs.
It was informed in the ceremony that Surguja was nominated for the State literacy award based on its achievements and commendable performance under Sakshar Bharat Mission.
literacy rate in Tribal dominated Surguja district is 61.2 per cent. Around 4.35 lakh trainees have cleared nation-wide basic literacy test conducted by National Institute of Open School Education, New Delhi. This achievement of Surguja district is the result of hard work of around 12 491 instructors associated with Sakshar Bharat programme.
It is their effort that has increased social awareness regarding literacy in remote areas of the district. lakhs of literacy lamps were lit in the district, which was included in ‘limca Bood of World Records’. In the district magazines namely ‘Pratibimb’ and ‘Naya Savera’ are also being published under the programme for creating social awareness at Gram Panchayat level.
The Sankalp Sootra Abhiyaan was conducted in the district, in which nearly three lakh people participated. More than 6,000 Neo-literates have been included under various skill development programmes. Special campaign was launched to connect school drop-out girls to the mainstream education.
In the same sequence, Tilda block of Raipur district has also contributed significantly to the success of Sakshar Bharat programme. Tilda block has population of around1.94 lak people.
In 91 Gram Panchayats of the block, Public Education Centres are being operated successfully. literacy rate in Tilda block has reached 92 per cent. In year 2013-14, around 3,348 trainees of Tilda block participated in the literacy test organized by National Institute of Open School Education, New Delhi and came off with flying colours. Innovative activities like plantation drive, health check up, hand washing day etc are also organized under the programme for encouraging public participation.
Inter-departmental coordination of Court, Janpad Panchayat, Women and Child Development Department, Forest Department and Health Department has been established to bring school drop-outs back to schools.
This initiative has borne promising results. Gender gap in this development block has also decreased. Another development block that was awarded with State literacy Award is Ambagarh Chowki (Rajnandgaon district). Ambagarh Chowki has population of 1.8 lak people. Earlier, number of illiterate people in 58 Gram Panchayats of this block was about 18,558.
Under Sakshar Bharat programme, around 82.6 per cent people were registered in Public Education Centers. As a part of innovative strategy, motivators and instructors personally contact the trainees to ensure their regular attendance at the centres. Under the programme to encourage personal interest, 40-day computer based literacy camp was organized for female trainees.