THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the administrative committee of the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority recommended a hike in the honorarium of preraks (literacy volunteers), Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb has said that his government will consider it genuinely. He was speaking at the 21st anniversary of the declaration of Kerala as a cent percent literate state organised at the Kanakakunnu Palace here on Wednesday. “The meager honorarium that the preraks receive now is injustice, we are aware of it. The administrative committee’s recommendation would be considered by the government,” he said. The Minister said that the motto of the Mission 20 years back was total literacy but now it is total equivalency. There should not be a single person in the state who has not passed tenth equivalency in the next five years, the Minister said. Meanwhile, the Kerala State Preraks Association (KSPA) said that the hastily made recommendation of the administrative committee was to soothe the prerak population ahead of today’s event. “The committee said that there would be cent percent increase, which means the preraks would get Rs 2,800 in place of Rs 1,400 they receive now. But that is not possible since the Mission has shortage of funds. The government had allotted Rs 12 crore in the budget but a portion of it would go to the panchayats which are coordinating the equivalency efforts,” said Rajiv, KSPA secretary. Besides, a large portion of the salary fund goes to officials on deputation, which numbers around 13, they said. The salary of the officials on deputation alone would amount to Rs 4 lakh, KSPA members said. The Mission runs on the course fee collected from the learners who join the equivalency programme and it is the preraks who put in the effort to make adult-learners join, they said.
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