Literacy Rate in India (A Devloping Country)

Literacy as a prerequisite to education is an instrument of empowerment.

The more literate the population the greater the consciousness of career options, as well as participation in the knowledge economy.

Further, literacy can lead to health awareness and fuller participation in the cultural and economic well being of the community.

Literacy levels have improved considerably after independence, and almost two-thirds of our population is now literate.

But improvements in the Literacy-Rate have to struggle to keep up with the rate of growth of the indian population, which is stil quite high.

Enormous effort is needed to ensure the literacy of the new generations - which are only just begining to be smaller in numbers than in the past (remember the discussion on age structure and the population pyramids earlier in this chapter).

Literacy varies considerably across gender,across regions and across social groups.

As can be see from the Table, The literacy rate for women is almost 22% less than the literacy rate for men.

However, female literacy has been rising faster than male literacy, partly because it started from relatively low levels.

Thus female literacy rose by almost 15% between 1991 and 2001 compared to the rise in male literacy of a little less than 12% in the same period.

Literacy rate also vary by social group - historically disadvantaged communities like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes have lower rates of literacy, and rates of female literacy within these groups are even lower.

Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching univarsal literacy, while states like Bihar are legging far behind.

The inequalities in the literacy rate are specially because they tend to reproduce inequality across generations.

Illiterate parents are at a severe disadvantage in ensuring that their children are well educated, thus perpetuating existing ine qualities.

Literacy Rate in India

(Percentage of Population 7 Years of age and above)

Year | Persons | Males | Females | Male-Female gap in literacy rate

1951 | 18.3 | 27.2 | 8.9 | 18.3

1961 | 28.3 | 40.4 | 15.4 | 25.1

1971 | 34.5 | 46.0 | 22.0 | 24.0

1981 | 43.6 | 56.4 | 29.8 | 26.6

1991 | 52.2 | 64.1 | 39.3 | 24.8

2001 | 65.4 | 75.9 | 54.2 | 21.7