MoU signed to educate 12 lakh rural women

The Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, or Jeevika and the mass education directorate of the education department would jointly teach over 12 lakh rural women how to read and write over the course of one year.

Chief executive officer of Jeevika, N Vijaya Lakshmi and principal secretary, education, RK Mahajan signed an MoU with this aim on Monday. The document placed special thrust on educating eight lakh women from Mahadalit, extremely backward classes and four lakh members of the minority communities.

Lauding Jeevikas initiative, Mahajan said the programme would go a long way in empowering women, which would in turn help in society’s development.

“Bihar registered the highest growth in literacy rate among women between 2001 and 2011,” he said. Lakshmi said the MoU would facilitate basic education, including reading, writing and basic understanding, among rural women and the transactional knowledge maintained in books of records and minutes of meetings at self-help groups, village organisations, cluster level federations and other organisations.

“Understanding of banking transactions and banking procedures and participation in local governance bodies like school management committees and others would also be provided and ensured. We aim to accomplish this in one year,” she said.

Mahajan added that the women would also be told of government welfare schemes for them.

Refuting any political motives behind the specific targeting of women from Mahadalits and minority communities, the bureaucrats said, their main focus was on economically backward and illiterate women, whichever community or category they may belong to.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times,