Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion society, [Jeevika] and the Mass Education Directorate of the Education have joined hands to give over 12 lakh rural women basic educational inputs in the course of one year.

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

Praising Jeevika’s initiative, Mahajan said the programme would prove to be a milestone in empowering women in the society. “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 the books of records and minutes of meetings at self-help groups, village organisations, cluster level federations and other organisations.

Lakshmi also added that understanding of banking transactions and procedures and participation in local governance bodies like school management committees and others would also be provided and ensured. They aim to accomplish this in one year.

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

[Prepared by Newsnet intern Ravi Ranjan Kumar]

  [Jeevika], Bihar, Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion society, education, Mass Education Directorate of the Education, Women’s Studies