Literacy Rate In India
The literacy rate is an important indicator of socio-economic progress in India. Since independence, India has achieved significant improvements in literacy rate which increased from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947 to 74.04% as per the 2011 census. One must not rejoice at the greater than six-fold improvement as India is still lagging behind the world average literacy rate of 84%. Also, India being a heavily populated country, India has the largest illiterate population in the world. There is also a wide gender gap in the literacy rate of India. The literacy rates of Indian men was 82.14% and for Indian women it was 65.46%, as of 2011.
If one inspects the decadal literacy growth of India, it can be observed that India has achieved a growth of 9.2% from 2001 to 2011. This figure is, however, lower than the growth rate of the previous decade.
Literacy Rate By Indian State
As we can see from the data presented below, the Indian state of Kerala in South India has the highest total literacy rate in the country. Kerala also has the highest female literacy rate in the country. The Union Territory of Lakshadweep has the highest male literacy rate in India. The lowest literacy rate in India is in the state of Bihar which also has the lowest male literacy rate in the country. Rajasthan suffers from having the lowest female literacy rate in the nation.
Highest Total Literacy Rate: Kerala, 93.91%
Highest Female Literacy Rate: Kerala, 91.98%
Highest Male Literacy Rate: Lakshadweep, 96.11%
Lowest Total Literacy Rate: Bihar, 63.82%
Lowest Male Literacy Rate: Bihar, 73.39%
Lowest Female Literacy Rate: Rajasthan, 52.66%
Tabular Data: Source:
What Makes Kerala So Successful In The Field Of Literacy In India?
As we can see from the data, Kerala has the highest literacy rate among the Indian states and Union Territories. What is reason behind this success?
First of all, the ease of access to education is high in the state. The infrastructure here is very well developed with easy access to educational institutions for the greatest proportion of students living here. In Kerala, over 94% of the rural population has access to a primary school within 1 km from their homes. 98% of the population can access a primary school within a distance of 2 km from their homes. Over 96% and 98% of the population have access to secondary educational facilities at a distance of 3 km and 8 km from home, respectively. Also, for students from rural area, the government has arranged for highly subsidised transport fares so that they can easily access the higher educational institutions in the major cities and towns of the state.
The Kerala government also adopted unique techniques and programs to increase the literacy rate in the state. The government along with social activists and voluntary groups have joined hands to eradicate illiteracy from the state. In the late 1980’s, the Indian state adopted the "campaign for total literacy” in the Ernakulam district of the state. The successful progress of the campaign inspired the government to adopt a similar program for the entire state. Thus, the Kerala State Literacy Campaign was initiated on February 4, 1990. During this campaign, door-to-door multistage household surveys were conducted to get a clear picture of the state of literacy of Kerala’s residents. The near accurate picture paved the way for a sound plan to eradicate literacy from the state. Awareness campaigns were then launched on a wide scale and innovative methods were used to spread the awareness about the importance of literacy. Literacy Foot Marches and cultural programmes were held throughout the state to encourage parents to send their children to school. Prominent social figures, politicians, and voluntary workers helped make the campaign a huge success.
Challenges Faced By Bihar
Bihar has the lowest literacy rate among the Indian states. However, significant progress has been achieved in the state with literacy levels rising from 39% in 1991 to 47% in 2001 to 63.8% in 2011. Despite the rise, a large section of the state’s population still remains uneducated. What are the reasons behind such low levels of literacy in the Indian state?
The strict adherence to the caste system and entrenched hierarchical social divisions has proved to be a barrier to educational achievement of Bihar’s residents. Children from “lower castes” are often denied school attendance and harassed by students of “higher castes” during school. This leads to high levels of school drop-outs of children of lower castes. The belief in the caste system is thus still prevalent in Bihar, and is a major contributor towards the low literacy levels of the state.
High rates of poverty and lack of jobs are the other major reasons of low literacy rates in Bihar. Impoverished families often cannot afford the textbooks and stationery required to go to schools. Those who manage to overcome these hurdles, get discouraged by a lack of job opportunities in the state. In Bihar, only government jobs are the major source of jobs as an alternative to farm labor. The high rates of corruption prevalent in the state means that the educated poor are unable to pay the huge bribes required to get a government job in the state. Thus, educated youths often join their parents in farming and this shakes the belief of the people in the power of education.
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