TN's 'Ennum Ezhutthum' mission to begin along with 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' as schools remain shut

As schools remain closed in Tamil Nadu, the proposed 'Ennum Ezhutthum' -- 'Literacy and Numeracy' mission, a project initiated by the DMK government this year, will be attached to the 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' (education at doorsteps) scheme.

The goal of the mission is to improve basic literacy and numeracy among children studying in Classes 1 - 3 and to ensure that every child attains the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and doing basic arithmetic.

In a bid to achieve universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) by 2025, the 'Ennum Ezhutthum' mission was proposed to be launched when the schools were opened for these standards. However, this academic year, schools could not be opened due to the pandemic situation.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT next as 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' still active, the government has proposed to mingle the literacy programme with education at doorsteps.

"The decision to begin literacy and numeracy mission at 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' came since the authorities have no clue when the schools were reopened again for Class 1, 2 and 3," he added.

Accordingly, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) had already prepared course materials for the 'Ennum Ezhutthum' scheme.

Stating that over 20 lakh children from over 25,000 government and government-aided schools are expected to be benefited from the literacy and numeracy scheme, the official said all the teachers, who were deputed for fieldwork, would be distributing the course materials to the children during 'Illam Thedi Kalvi' programme.

"In addition, the teachers would spend five days to test the children's fundamental skills with regard to reading, writing, and knowledge of basic arithmetic based on the course materials," he said adding children performance report would be submitted to the SCERT, which would create a database based on the report cards.

Pointing out that a robust monitoring mechanism is also being put in place to track the performance of each and every child, he said, based on the performance of the children the teaching methods will be altered

Claiming that the government would be spending about Rs 66 crore for this 'Ennum Ezhutthum' mission, the official said the course materials will also be improved periodically.