In yet another landmark in the State's literacy drive, as many as 12,633 candidates from tribal settlements in Wayanad have cleared the comprehensive tribal literacy examination conducted by the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA).
General Education Minister V. Sivankutty will hand over certificates to them at the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam memorial auditorium at the collectorate here at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
As many as 12,958 candidates, including 3,104 men and 9,854 women, from the 919 tribal settlements in 26 local bodies appeared for the basic literacy examination held in December last year, of which 2,949 men and 9,648 women (97.49%) passed the examination.
The eldest neo-literate among them is Chippiyamma, 85, of the Sugandhagiri plantations in Pozhuthana grama panchayat.
The highest number of candidates passed in the Pulpally grama panchayat (1,122) and the lowest in Mupainad grama panchayat (83).
As many as 804 instructors from various tribal hamlets supervised the examination.
A survey conducted in 2019 in connection with the programme had found that 22,908 persons in various tribal settlements were illiterates, of which 19,772 persons attended the literacy classes conducted in tribal hamlets regularly.
Though the classes had started in 2019, they had to be stopped owing to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic .
The classes were handled by as many as 919 trained tribal instructors from the Paniya tribal community .
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