New Delhi: The Kerala government has become the first state to achieve total digital literacy, with the state government now waiting for the confirmation of the President of India to make the official announcement.“We have achieved much beyond the guidelines stipulated by the National Digital Literacy Mission for digital literacy, which require training to be imparted only for those up to 60 years of age. This programme has included people of all ages,” says Kerala’s Local Self Government (LSG) minister M.B. Rajesh has said, reported The Hindu.Back in 2022, the Digi Kerala idea had begun as a pilot initiative of the Pullampara gram panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram to impart digital literacy to all residents.Under the initiative, the trainees, most of whom were using digital equipment for the first time, were taught to make voice calls and video calls using smartphones, to use WhatsApp, access government services, to carry out Internet banking and to use popular social media platforms.The programme was later extended across the state, with 21.88 lakh participants being identified as digitally illiterate through surveys conduced in wards.Over 2.57 lakh volunteers coordinated to organise classes for the participants.“After the training programme was completed, the trainees were evaluated to check how equipped they are. As many as 98% of the participants passed the evaluation. Third party verification was done by the Statistics department to ensure that the figures are accurate. In wards in which over 10% variation was seen, re-training was conducted. Offline training was provided in areas of low connectivity,” said an official who coordinated the training programme.