Mumbai: Ananya Chavan, an X-standard student from Ratnagiri has been teaching her illiterate grandparents to read and write. Her inspiring work was noted by the Union Education Ministry. An artwork made by Ananya has been tweeted by the ministry and posted on the Facebook page of the Nav Bharat Literaracy campaign.
Ananya received information about the campaign through her school principal, Godutai Jambhekar. He decided to teach her grandparents to read and write and started giving them lessons whenever she could find the time. She sketched her teaching her grandparents. Her art teacher Anil Sagwekar told her to sketch on the blackboard for everyone to take notice of her work and further the cause. Picture of that sketch became viral not only in her school but throughout the state. Ratnagiri DIET's Rajendra Latthe, who is also the district coordinator of the literacy campaign sent the picture to state planning' deputy director Rajesh Kshirsagar. Kshirsagar in turn sent the image to Union Education Ministry and Delhi posted the picture on Twitter and Facebook.
What is the actual artwork? ULLAS (Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society) Nav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram aims to appeal to literate members of the family to teach their illiterate counterparts. This point has been highlighted in Ananya's artwork . The Education Ministry captioned the sketch with the line 'Let's create India'. This is the 3rd artwork from the state that has been noticed by the Centre.
About the Literacy CampaignThe Nav Bharat Saksharta campaign was launched on 8th September, Global Literacy Day. It aims to survey schools to find illiterate people and teaching them to read and write with the help of volunteers. The state already has a few adult literacy classes.
Noteworthy momentsEarlier pictures of 76-year-old Babai Maskar in her first literacy class and another of a grandmother-granddaughter duo of Sushila (72) and 9-year-old Ruchita Kshirsagar were posted on the Union Education Ministry's Facebook page. The state also uses these to spread awareness about the literacy campaign.
"To educate member of the family, literate members should register them online in nearby school', appealed Dr Mahesh Palkar, Director of Education Department