Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Adult education officials cut a sorry figure at review meeting

VIJAYAWADA: Officials of the adult education wing in the Department of School Education from ten districts had to cut a sorry figure when they failed to answer simple questions asked by S. Sailajanath, Minister for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Primary and Adult Education, at a review meeting here on Wednesday.

The meeting was held to review the implementation of Saakshar Bharat and Rajiv Vidya Mission (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) programmes in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Khammam, Nalgonda and Warangal districts.

The officials bungled and looked helpless when the Minister asked them to provide him the population of SCs and STs that were still illiterate and what steps were being taken to reduce it.

At the outset, Principal Secretary for Primary Education Chandana Khan said regional meetings were being held mainly because many of the field staff were unaware of the literacy levels prevalent in the areas under their purview. Many of them were not even aware of their duties and responsibilities. She said that the supervisors should have the literary percentages of their respective mandals at their finger tips.

The Minister was visibly flabbergasted when the officials of Krishna district were unable to give the literacy percentage of SC and STs in A. Kondur mandal that had the lowest average literary rate of 47.93 per cent. He was also not convinced with the officials' explanation that migration was the main reason for the low levels of literacy.

Special centres

Pedana MLA Jogi Ramesh said a special programme was needed to increase the literacy of quarry workers and their children. The Principal Secretary said special centres should be established to address the problem.

Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu and Vijayawada East MLA Yelamanchalli Ravi said there was a need to have special centres for slum areas. Ms. Khan agreed that urban centres could be established.

When many officials said they were finding it difficult to recruit Vidya volunteers with tenth class qualification in tribal villages, Ms. Khan said that even students of sixth standard and above could be taken as Vidya volunteers if they had good reading, writing and simple mathematical skills. Special exemption would be given for such villages under the scheme.

The Minister said he was not ready to accept excuses like literacy level of a village was low because it was in an interior area. “These villages may continue to be inaccessible even in the future. Are we going to abandon them?” he asked, and sought to know when the problems of such villages would be addressed.

District Collector Peeyush Kumar and MLC Ilapuram Venkaiah participated. Adult Education Director P. Janardhana Reddy presided over the review. The Minister reviewed the implementation of adult education schemes with tremendous patience even after the Principal Secretary, the District Collector and the elected representatives left the meeting. He tried to play the role of a motivator with the officials whenever he could.

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