Digital literacy class in progress at a house in Pullampara panchayat in Thiruvananthapural (File)

For the past few months, 67-year-old C. Sarasu, a Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) worker from Pullampara in Thiruvananthapuram, has been using her leisure time to video call her relatives and watch YouTube videos. In Muvattupuzha, 75-year old Krishnakumar is now using WhatsApp to mobilise people from the neighbourhood for an anti-drugs campaign. Until recently, both of them were “digital illiterates,” for whom technology was a hard nut to crack.

The two are now part of the over 21 lakh people who have completed the Local Self-Government (LSG) department’s ‘Digi Kerala’ digital literacy programme, making Kerala the first State to achieve total digital literacy. Speaking to The Hindu, LSG Minister M.B. Rajesh said the government is waiting for the President of India’s confirmation for an event to make the official announcement.

People of all ages

“We have achieved much beyond the guidelines stipulated by the National Digital Literacy Mission for digital literacy, which require training to be imparted only for those up to 60 years of age. This programme has included people of all ages,” says Mr. Rajesh.

The Digi Kerala idea began as a pilot initiative of the Pullampara grama panchayat in the capital in 2022 to impart digital literacy to all residents. 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, access government services, to carry out Internet banking and to use popular social media platforms.

Classes by volunteers

The government later decided to expand the programme across the State. Through surveys in wards across the State, 21.88 lakh participants were identified as digitally illiterate. A large army of 2.57 lakh volunteers, including National Service Scheme members, Kudumbashree members, Kerala State Literacy Mission Preraks, members of the Library Council, and youth organisations coordinated to organise classes for them in households, MGNREGS work sites, libraries and Kudumbashree neighbourhood groups.

Evaluation completed

“After the training programme was completed, the trainees were evaluated to check how equipped they are. As many as 98% of the participants passed the evaluation. Third party verification was done by the Statistics department to ensure that the figures are accurate. In wards in which over 10% variation was seen, re-training was conducted. Offline training was provided in areas of low connectivity,” says an official who coordinated the training programme.