Correspondent
KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 18
A four-day training programme on Interpersonal Media Campaign (IPMC) under Saakshar Bharat for DEOs, SDEOs, supervisors and teachers from different districts under school education department got underway here today at Zonal Council Hall, Kohima. The programme is aimed at training master trainers for educating the illiterate from the grassroots with special focus on four key components, legal literacy- rights and entitlements, financial literacy, electoral literacy and disaster management.
Commissioner & Secretary for Health & Family Welfare and Chief Electoral Officer Nagaland, Sentiyanger Imchen, who graced the inaugural session of the four day programme on Tuesday, expressed appreciation that the IPMC has been introduced in Nagaland. He said people generally tend to think that education can be availed only through the conventional method of schools and classrooms. “If we use this interpersonal module of education which has been introduced, the illiterate people in our state can acquire knowledge be empowered,” he said. The official highlighted the important aspects of adult literacy, particularly on financial knowledge as well as legal rights and entitlements. He stated that while the central government has passed many rights and schemes for the citizens, unless a person is aware of his/her entitlements, he/she will be “taken for granted”. Imchen also underscored that besides natural calamities, there are now many manmade disasters and educating the people on how to avert or tackle these disasters is pertinent.
On electoral literacy, he said the national literacy authority and the election commission have signed a MoU to spread the message of electoral reforms and rights. He asserted that ethical voting is very important in the context of Nagaland. He said that the national voter turnout during elections is 64% and Nagaland recorded not less than 90% turnout during the last elections. While stating this shows that the people of the state are electorally literate and are participating in the function of democracy, Imchen candidly pointed out various electoral malpractices in the state such as proxy voting, impersonation and booth capturing etc. “It is time that we in Nagaland started thinking about electoral reforms,” he added.
The official expressed hope that the training programme will equip the participants on these issues and pass on the knowledge to empower the people at the grassroots so as to make a difference as well as bring changes to the society.
Debajyoti Banik from State Resource Centre Tripura and chief manager SBI Kohima, Th. Tunglut also delivered short speeches while commissioner & secretary for School Education & SCERT, T. Imkonglemba Ao chaired the inaugural programme.
Saakshar Bharat is a centrally sponsored scheme of Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. It was launched in 2009 with the aim to further promote and strengthen adult education.
