The Central University of Odisha established a tribal digital literacy initiative on its campus to improve the digital literacy and abilities of tribal youth. In order to teach the youth from the Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC), Other Backward Caste (OBC), and other marginalised communities of the Koraput district digital skills, the unit will be operational at the Centre for Tribal Welfare and Community Development (CTWCD) of the University at Koraput.
The centre was formally opened by Professor Sharat Kumar Palita, the Vice-Chancellor in charge of the University, and Charudatta Panigrahy, the founding chairman of FIDR.
According to Mr. Palita, the program's opening is a historic occasion because it offers hope for the marginalised groups in the Koraput district to become digitally literate, which is a step toward self-employment. Although the curriculum begins with some introductory computer classes, it will eventually offer higher level courses.
Local MLA Raghuram Padal highlighted the importance of education for all-round development. He said, “the university is successfully creating the aspiration level of people in the Koraput region on higher education. Majority of students of this region took admission in CUO to get their higher education”.
The Tribal Digital Literacy Centre aims to provide computer knowledge to the marginalized sections of the society in the age group of 16-25 years free of cost for a period of three years.
