In Telangana,Saakshar Bharat mission has increased Female literacy rate

News:The female literacy rate in Telangana’s Sangareddy district has increased drastically as they were home-schooled by their own children.

Facts:

• In 2017,the district administration in Telangana’s Sangareddy district has developed ‘Ammaku Akshara Mala’ p(alphabet garland for mother) and involved students in Classes VII to X.
• They were asked to teach their mothers (mostly members of the Self-Help Groups and not literate) to read and write Telugu alphabets at home.
• This was done to assist the Saakshar Bharat Mission(SBM) as it faced a shortage of coordinators.

About Saakshar Bharat Mission(SBM):

• Saakshar Bharat Programme was formulated in 2009 by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development(MHRD).
• The objective of the programme is to achieve 80% literacy level at national level by focusing on adult women literacy.
• The programme also seeks to reduce the gap between male and female literacy to not more than 10 percentage points.
• The programme is a Centrally sponsored programme.

Objectives of the programme:It has four broader objectives namely 

• imparting functional literacy and numeracy to non-literates
• acquiring equivalency to formal educational system
• imparting relevant skill development programme and 
• promote a learning society by providing opportunities for continuing education.

Eligibility criteria for coverage under Saakshar Bharat:

• A district including a new district carved out of erstwhile district that had adult female literacy rate of 50% or below as per the 2001 census
• All left wing extremism-affected districts irrespective of their literacy rate, were also eligible for coverage under the programme.