Kerala to be declared fully digitally literate on Aug. 21
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will make the declaration of Kerala as the first digitally literate State in the country at a function at Central Stadium in the capital on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Minister for Local-Self Governments M.B. Rajesh said the State which achieved total literacy in 1991 had put forward yet another model for the country with over 99% of the population achieving total digital literacy also. He said with the government making available most of its services online through the KSMART platform, it also aimed to equip the entire population with the necessary digital skills to access these.
The project originated from Pullampara panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram in 2021 to address the issues faced by the local population owing to the digital divide. Ground-level surveys were carried out to identify digitally illiterate persons of all ages. The trainees, most of whom were using digital equipment for the first time, were taught to make voice calls as well as video calls using smartphones, to use WhatsApp, to use popular social media platforms, and to access digital services, based on a module developed for the purpose.
Pullampara was declared fully digitally literate in September 2022, when the government decided to expand the programme across the State. In the surveys carried out among 1.5 crore people from 83.46 lakh families, 21.88 lakh people were identified as digitally illiterate. Of this, 21.87 lakh people, comprising 99.98% of the participants had completed training and successfully completed evaluation.
'One of the interesting aspects of this project is how the younger generation, whose social commitment is often questioned, turned into volunteers to impart digital skills to the elder generation,' said Mr. Rajesh.
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