In a remarkable achievement, Kollam has become the first constitution literate district in the country. The announcement of the feat was made by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a ceremony, chaired by Finance Minister KN Balagopal, in Kollam.
Declaring Kollam as India’s first constitution literate district, the chief minister said that constitutional values should be merged with our lives and governance, in order to achieve complete constitutional literacy.
The district’s achievement is the result of the seven-month long Constitution literacy campaign launched jointly by the Kollam district panchayat, District Planning Committee and Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KLA) in a bid to create awareness about various aspects of the country’s laws and citizen rights.
The aim was to provide constitution literacy to 23 lakh citizens belonging to 7 lakh families in the district. Awareness classes were organised to around 90 per cent of the people in Kollam.
Reportedly, around 16.3 lakh people, above 10 years of age, were educated by 2,200 trainers called ‘senators’, who visited schools, offices, auto stands and tribal councils to create awareness.