At 104, Kerala centenarian masters smartphones: Symbol of state's digital revolution

Thiruvananthapuram | At the age of 104, M A Abdullah Moulavi from Asamannoor in Ernakulam district is incredibly self-reliant in choosing his favourite social media reels and watching important news on YouTube.

While searching prayer songs swiftly on his son's smartphone with his fragile fingers and pressing the video call button to talk to his grandchild abroad, Moulavi's wrinkled face beams with pride and happiness.

He is one of about 22 lakh persons in Kerala who have become digitally literate through the path-breaking "Digi Keralam" programme rolled out by the state government, which eventually paved the way for a digital revolution.

79-year-old Sarasu, a daily wage earner, was initially averse to digital learning. Later, she became a YouTube channel owner, and 80-year-old Sulochana in Moovattupuzha started to access government services on her mobile without anyone's help.

With 99.98 per cent of learners achieving basic digital skills and passing out, Kerala is now all set to be declared as the "first digital literate state" in the country.

Launched on 22 September 2022 by the Local Self-Government Department (LSGD), Digi Keralam aimed to attain complete digital literacy in the state in line with the total literacy campaign in 1991, authorities said.

As part of the drive, digitally illiterate people were identified and trained in tasks ranging from turning a smartphone on/off to using digital tools and accessing government services online.

LSGD Minister M B Rajesh said, as many as 21,87,677 digitally illiterate persons, identified through a survey conducted among 83,45, 879 families across the state, have been trained to use digital tools effectively.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will officially declare the state as totally digitally literate in a function to be held at the Central Stadium here on August 21, he said.

"The digital literacy programme has been implemented on the model of the historic total literacy movement in the state decades ago," Rajesh told PTI.

He said the immediate necessity for digital literacy was felt when the government services, especially those of the LSGD Department, had completely become online.

If the benefits of the online services are to reach the common people, the digital gap in society should be bridged effectively, he said.

"Thus, when we implemented initiatives to make all the services of our department online, the digital literacy initiative was also carried out simultaneously to digitally empower people, cutting across their socioeconomic status or geographical location," the minister explained.

Jeromic George, Principal Director, LSGD, said Digi Keralam was launched to ensure that every citizen is able to access and benefit from e-governance and digital services.

"This was not just a government programme, but a people’s movement, connecting generations and communities," he said.

Over two lakh volunteers, the majority of them students, Kudumbasree activists, National Service Scheme (NSS) members, and students' police cadets were the backbone of the drive, which was completed by March this year.

Of those several lakh people who have become digital literates, over 15,000 are above 90 years old, like Abdullah, the minister added.

"Digital learning has brought such a positive change in his daily life at this age. Now, he easily switches on YouTube to watch news and video calls the grandson abroad by himself," Abdullah's son Faizal told PTI.

Authorities said Pullampara, a tiny panchayat on the outskirts of the capital district, has laid the foundation for the successful mass digital literacy model implemented across the state.

Sajina Sathar, assistant director, Digi Keralam, recalled that the plight of underprivileged people, many of them senior citizens, during the pandemic lockdown in 2021 had persuaded Pullampara panchayat authorities to think about digital literacy seriously.

"During the pandemic, we could see long queues of people before the only bank in our village to check whether their MGNREGA wages were credited to their accounts," the official, who conceptualised and led the digital literacy drive in Pullampara, told PTI.

"Some even spent Rs 200-300 to reach the bank by auto just to check the balance," she said.

If they were digitally literate, they could check their balance on their mobile phones, and that thought had persuaded the panchayat authorities to devise the path-breaking digital literacy drive, she said.

The official said they faced numerous challenges, from preparing a scientific module and identifying volunteers for surveys to training them alongside funding shortages and mobile connectivity issues in the hamlet’s hilly terrain.

The biggest challenge was to change the mindset of the individuals and prepare them for digital learning, she added.

On the occasion of officially declaring Pullampara as the first fully digitally literate village panchayat in the state on September 21, 2022, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that this model would be replicated across the state.

Kerala Institute of Local Administration was asked to prepare a training module suitable for the entire state.

"Then we began volunteer registration. Master trainers were identified, and through them trainers were trained. They, in turn, imparted training to volunteers. Training sessions were almost online,'' Rajesh said.

Kerala could implement such a massive initiative successfully, as our grassroots-level networking is so strong, said Minister Rajesh, who himself was a student volunteer in the literacy movement of the 1990s.