They say the print media is on its way to the grave. It sure is among the fisherfolk, for more than 40 percent of the State's fishermen do not read newspapers at all, says a UNDP-Planning Board study on the Human Development Report of the Fisherfolk in Kerala, prepared by Shyjan D, faculty member of the Department of Economics, University of Calicut and the Loyola College of Social Sciences, here.
What is more shocking is that among all the districts, a major chunk of fisherfolk in the State capital, as much as 70 percent, never read newspapers or magazines at all. And those who subscribe to newspapers have been forced to do so, either by political parties or by the local church.
In Kannur, almost everyone reads newspaper with only 13 percent not reading newspapers at all.
The pitiable rate of reading habit is also denying useful information to the fisherfolk here, where neraly 40 percent are unaware of the Government projects, providing assistance for education and also the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules.
While the people on the Thiruvananthapuram coast ascribed their lack of interest in newspapers and magazines to their habit of watching television, the study points to the possible low level of literacy among the Thiruvananthapuram fisherfolk, which is way below the State average. In Thiruvananthapuram, which has the highest number of fishermen population and fishing villages, more than 15 percent of the fisherfolk population is illiterate.
The fishermen of Ernakulam district were ahead in literacy rate even during the 1980s possibly owing to their exposure to the outside world, thanks to the Cochin Port.
But eventhough the State's fishermen lagged behind the general population in matters of literacy, they recorded a tremendous improvement over the next few decades.
For fisherfolk in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kannur, the first priority of the parents is to give the best possible education for the children.
The younger generation is also slowly moving out of the traditional means of livelihood.
In absolute contrast, the fisherfolk in Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram is way backward not just in terms of the education-level of the parents, but also of the children.
Among those who head the household, there is one illiterate for every three in Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram, which, the report says, could influence the parents' perception towards their children's education, especially higher education.
In Thiruvananthapuram, boys are expected to help out the fathers on the sea-shore, when they come back after fishing and girls are often tied down at home to cook and fetch drinking water when their mothers go out for work.
Another important reason cited for the inter-district difference in eduactional status, is lack of facilities provided at home for the students.
While the housing condition itself may not be suitable to provide separate space for children, most of the parents also did not think that it is necessary to provide the children with such facilities.
The comparison children's attendance in school when examined, also shows that the poorest regularity are in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram.
The report concludes that while the general population in Kerala is swiftly heading to equipping themselves with technical and professional education, the people on the coast are being pushed out to peripheral economic activities.
[Reema Narendran/ ENS T'Puram, January 21 of The New Indian Express/ Saturday, January 22, 2011, Thiruvananthapuram, p.2]
No comments:
Post a Comment