Ok V Rabiya, identified for her outstanding position in Kerala’s grownup literacy programme, died at her dwelling in Malappuram on Sunday. She was 59.
A local of Vellikakkad in Malappuram district, Rabiya fought in opposition to heavy odds and private tragedies, proper from childhood, to work relentlessly for the betterment of the in another way abled and impressed hundreds of girls to enter the world of letters.
In 2022, she was honoured with the Padma Shri for social work.
Whereas nonetheless a faculty scholar, Rabiya contracted polio on the age of 12, which might ultimately depart her paraplegic. Regardless of this, she accomplished her education and joined a university. Nevertheless, she couldn’t full the diploma course.
Rabiya then turned to books, studying all the pieces from science to literature. Wheelchair-bound by then, Rabiya additionally began taking tuition courses for native youngsters at a nominal price.
It was by likelihood that Rabiya turned part of Kerala’s literacy motion, which started within the late Eighties. A university diploma was a should for a literacy teacher. Nevertheless, an teacher, who couldn’t proceed with the programme, sought Rabiya’s assist. This marked the start of a social employee and the start of her legacy.
She began educating literacy courses in June 1990, and native aged girls and housewives have been her college students. She labored to persuade girls from orthodox households in regards to the significance of training, and advised them inspiring tales of world leaders and social reformers to get them involved in her courses.
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When her variety of college students began swelling, Rabiya turned a full-time literacy teacher. Later, she additionally established a library for ladies and have become instrumental within the growth of her locality, which didn’t have fundamental services akin to roads and electrical energy, phone, and water connections.
She ultimately launched a voluntary organisation named Chalanam (motion), which additionally spearheaded literary programmes.
Her intervention was not restricted to literacy alone. She began six colleges for kids with particular wants and educated and empowered greater than 250 girls via a small-scale manufacturing unit. She was additionally on the forefront of the motion to create consciousness in opposition to dowry and superstition. In later years, she was additionally actively concerned within the e-literacy programme, Akshaya, in Malappuram.
In 2000, Rabiya was identified with most cancers, which she later overcame, after which she returned to social work.
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In her autobiography, Swapnangalkku Chirakukalundu (Goals Have Wings), Rabiya advised the story of her inspiring life and the way she chased her goals. She additionally authored 4 different books, together with the memoir, Mouna Nombarangal (Silent Pains). A documentary was additionally made on her life, titled Rabiya Strikes.
She acquired a number of honours, together with the Kannagi Devi Stree Shakti Puraskar, instituted by the Little one Welfare Division of the Union authorities, in 2000. She additionally gained the Youth Volunteer in opposition to Poverty award, collectively instituted by the Union Youth Affairs Ministry and the United Nations Growth Programme.