Literacy in India

Literacy rate map of India, 2011.[1]

Literacy in India is a key for socio-economic progress,[2] and the Indian literacy rate has grown to 74.04% (2011 figure) from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947.[3][4] Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%,[5] and of all nations, India currently has the largest illiterate population.[6] Despite government programmes, India's literacy rate increased only "sluggishly",[7] and a 1990 study estimated that it would take until 2060 for India to achieve universal literacy at then-current rate of progress.[8] The 2011 census, however, indicated a 2001–2011 decadal literacy growth of 9.2%, which is slower than the growth seen during the previous decade.

There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women.[9] The low female literacy rate has had a dramatically negative impact on family planning and population stabillisation efforts in India. Studies have indicated that female literacy is a strong predictor of the use of contraception among married Indian couples, even when women do not otherwise have economic independence.[10] The census provided a positive indication that growth in female literacy rates (11.8%) was substantially faster than in male literacy rates (6.9%) in the 2001–2011 decadal period, which means the gender gap appears to be narrowing.[11]

The current literacy rate of India is 74.04%.[12]

Comparative literacy statistics on country

The table below shows the adult and youth literacy rates for India and some neighbouring countries in 2002.[13] Adult literacy rate is based on the 15+ years age group, while the youth literacy rate is for the 15–24 years age group (i.e. youth is a subset of adults).

Country Adult Literacy Rate Youth Literacy Rate
ages 15–24
China 95.1% (2010)[14] 99.7% (2015)[15]
Sri Lanka 92.6% (2015)[16] 98.8% (2015)[17]
Myanmar 89.9% (2007)[18] 96.3% (2015)[19]
World Average 84% (2010)[20] 89.6% (2010)[20]
India 74.04% (2011)[21] 90.2% (2015)[22]
Nepal 55.5% (2007) 86.9%(2015)[23]
Pakistan 50.2% (2007)[24] 74.8% (2015)[25]
Bangladesh 53.5% (2007) 83.2% (2015)[26]

Fluctuations of literacy rate in India

One of the main factors contributing to this relatively low literacy rate is usefulness of education and availability of schools in vicinity in rural areas. There is a shortage of classrooms to accommodate all the students in 2006–2007.[27] In addition, there is no proper sanitation in most schools. The study of 188 government-run primary schools in central and northern India revealed that 59% of the schools had no drinking water facility and 89% no toilets.[28] In 600,000 villages and multiplying urban slum habitats, 'free and compulsory education' is the basic literacy instruction dispensed by barely qualified 'para teachers'.[29] The average Pupil Teacher Ratio for All India is 42:1, implying teacher shortage.[30] Such inadequacies resulted in a non-standardized school system where literacy rates may differ.[29] Furthermore, the expenditure allocated to education was never above 4.3% of the GDP from 1951 to 2002 despite the target of 6% by the Kothari Commission.[31] This further complicates the literacy problem in India.

Severe caste disparities also exist.[29] Discrimination of lower castes has resulted in high dropout rates and low enrollment rates. The National Sample Survey Organisation and the National Family Health Survey collected data in India on the percentage of children completing primary school which are reported to be only 36.8% and 37.7% respectively.[32] On 21 February 2005, the Prime Minister of India said that he was pained to note that "only 47 out of 100 children enrolled in class I reach class VIII, putting the dropout rate at 52.78 per cent."[30] It is estimated that at least 35 million, and possibly as many as 60 million, children aged 6–14 years are not in school.[29]

Absolute poverty in India has also deterred the pursuit of formal education as education is not deemed of as the highest priority among the poor as compared to other basic necessities. The MRP-based (mixed recall period) poverty estimates of about 22% of poverty in 2004–05 which translated to 22 out of per 100 people are not meeting their basic needs, much less than meeting the need for education.[33]

The large proportion of illiterate females is another reason for the low literacy rate in India. Inequality based on gender differences resulted in female literacy rates being lower at 65.46% than that of their male counterparts at 82.14%.[34] Due to strong stereotyping of female and male roles, Sons are thought of to be more useful and hence are educated. Females are pulled to help out on agricultural farms at home as they are increasingly replacing the males on such activities which require no formal education.[35] Fewer than 2% of girls who engaged in agriculture work attended school.[35]

Growth of literacy

The British period

Literacy in India grew very slowly until independence in 1947. An acceleration in the rate of literacy growth occurred in the 1991–2001 period.

Prior to the British era, education in Indian commenced under the supervision of a guru in traditional schools called gurukuls. The gurukuls were supported by public donation and were one of the earliest forms of public school offices. However these Gurukuls catered only to the Upper castes males of the Indian society and the overwhelming masses were denied any formal education. In the colonial era, the gurukul system began to decline as the system promoted by the British began to gradually take over. Between 1881–82 and 1946–47, the number of English primary schools grew from 82,916 to 134,866 and the number of students in English Schools grew from 2,061,541 to 10,525,943. Literacy rates in accordance to British in India rose from 3.2 per cent in 1881 to 7.2 per cent in 1931 and 12.2 per cent in 1947.[3]

In 2000–01, there were 60,840 pre-primary and pre-basic schools, and 664,041 primary and junior basic schools.[36] Total enrolment at the primary level has increased from 19,200,000 in 1950–51 to 109,800,000 in 2001–02.[37] The number of high schools in 2000–01 was higher than the number of primary schools at the time of independence.[3][36]

In 1944, the Government of British India presented a plan, called the Sergeant Scheme for the educational reconstruction of India, with a goal of producing 100% literacy in the country within 40 years, i.e. by 1984.[38] Although the 40-year time-frame was derided at the time by leaders of the Indian independence movement as being too long a period to achieve universal literacy,[38] India had only just crossed the 74% level by the 2011 census.

It should also be noted that the British India censuses identify a significant difference in literacy rates, by: sex, religion, caste and state of residence,[39] e.g.:

1901 census – literacy rate Male % Female %
Madras 11.9 0.9
Bombay 11.6 0.9
Bengal 10.4 0.5
Berar 8.5 0.3
Assam 6.7 0.4
Punjab 6.4 0.3
United Provinces 5.7 0.2
Central Provinces 5.4 0.2

Post-Independence

The provision of universal and compulsory education for all children in the age group of 6–14 was a cherished national ideal and had been given overriding priority by incorporation as a Directive Policy in Article 45 of the Constitution, but it is still to be achieved more than half a century since the Constitution was adopted in 1949. Parliament has passed the Constitution 86th Amendment Act, 2002, to make elementary education a Fundamental Right for children in the age group of 6–14 years.[40] In order to provide more funds for education, an education cess of 2 per cent has been imposed on all direct and indirect central taxes through the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004.[41]

The literacy rate grew from 18.33 per cent in 1951, to 28.30 per cent in 1961, 34.45 per cent in 1971, 43.57 per cent in 1981, 52.21 per cent in 1991, 64.84 per cent in 2001 and 74.04 per cent in 2011.[42] During the same period, the population grew from 361 million to 1,210 million.

Literacy rate variations between states

The literacy rates of different Indian states in 2001 and 2011.

India's literacy rate is at 74.04%.[12]Kerala is the most literate state in India, with 93.91% literacy. Bihar is the least literate state in India, with a literacy of 63.82%.[43] Several other social indicators of the two states are correlated with these rates, such as life expectancy at birth (71.61 for males and 75 for females in Kerala, 65.66 for males and 64.79 for females in Bihar), infant mortality per 1,000 live births (10 in Kerala, 61 in Bihar), birth rate per 1,000 people (16.9 in Kerala, 30.9 in Bihar) and death rate per 1,000 people (6.4 in Kerala, 7.9 in Bihar).[44]

Every census since 1881 had indicated rising literacy in the country, but the population growth rate had been high enough that the absolute number of illiterates rose with every decade. The 2001–2011 decade is the second census period (after the 1991–2001 census period) when the absolute number of Indian illiterates declined (by 31,196,847 people), indicting that the literacy growth rate is now outstripping the population growth rate.[45]

Bihar is the only remain Indian state in the 2011 census where less than 65% of the population was literate.[45] It is also only one of two states where less than 75% of the male population (the other being Arunachal Pradesh) was literate and only one of two states where less than 55% of the female population (the other being Rajasthan) was literate.[45] Six Indian states account for about 70% of all illiterates in India: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.[46] Slightly less than half of all Indian illiterates (48.12%) are in the six Hindi-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.[46]

Large variations in literacy exist even between contiguous states. While there are few states at the top and bottom, most states are just above or below the national average.

Learnings from state literacy efforts in India

Several states in India have executed successful programmes to boost literacy rates. Over time, a set of factors have emerged as being key to success: official will to succeed, deliberate steps to engage the community in administering the programme, adequate funding for infrastructure and teachers, and provisioning additional services which are considered valuable by the community (such as free school lunches).

Bihar literacy challenges

Bihar has significantly raised the literacy rate as per the 2011 census. The literacy rate has risen from 39% in 1991 to 47% in 2001 to 63.8% in 2011.[45] The Government of Bihar has launched several programmes to boost literacy, and its Department of Adult Education even won a UNESCO award in 1981.[47]

Extensive impoverishment, entrenched hierarchical social divisions and the lack of correlation between educational attainment and job opportunities are often cited in studies of the hurdles literacy programmes face in Bihar. Children from "lower castes" are frequently denied school attendance and harassed when they do attend.[48] In areas where there is no discrimination, poor funding and impoverished families means that children often cannot afford textbooks and stationery.[48]

When children do get educated, the general lack of economic progress in the state means that government jobs are the only alternative to farm labour, yet these jobs, in practice, require bribes to secure – which poorer families cannot afford.[48] This leads to educated youths working on the farms, much as uneducated ones do, and leads parents to question the investment of sending children to school in the first place.[48] Bihar's government schools have also faced teacher absenteeism, leading the state government to threaten withholding of salaries of teachers who failed to conduct classes on a regular basis.[49] To incentivise students to attend, the government announced a Rupee 1 per school-day grant to poor children who show up at school.[49]

Tripura literacy successes

According to the 2011 census, literacy level was 93.91 percent in Kerala and 91.58 percent in Mizoram, among the most literate states in the country. The national literacy rate, according to the 2011 census, was 74.04 percent. The Tripura success story is attributed to the involvement of local government bodies, including gram panchayats, NGOs and local clubs under the close supervision of the State Literacy Mission Authority (SLMA) headed by the chief minister. Tripura attained 87.75 percent literacy in the 2011 census, from the 12th position in the 2001 census to the 4th position in the 2011 census.[50] Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said that efforts were underway to literate leftover 5.35 percent people and achieve complete success in a state of about 3.8 million people.[51] The programmes were not just implemented to make the state literate but as long-term education programmes to ensure all citizens have a certain basic minimum level of education. Tripura has 45 blocks and 23 subdivisions that are served by 68 government-run schools and 30-40 private schools.[52] Among projects implemented by the state government to increase literacy in the state are

The holistic education system, implemented with equal interest in Agartala, remote areas and the tribal autonomic areas, makes sure that people in Tripura do not just become literate but educated, officials emphasized. One pointer to the government's interest in education is the near-total absence of child labour in Tripura.

Kerala literacy successes

Kerala has the highest literacy rate among the states of India, followed by the state of Mizoram. Kerala topped the Education Development Index (EDI) among 21 major states in India in year 2006–2007.[143] More than 94% of the rural population has access to primary school within 1 km, while 98% of population benefits one school within a distance of 2 km. An upper primary school within a distance of 3 km is available for more than 96% of the people, whose 98% benefit the facility for secondary education within 8 km. The access for rural students to higher educational institutions in cities is facilitated by widely subsidised transport fares. Kerala's educational system has been developed by institutions owned or aided by the government. In the educational system prevailed in the state, schooling is for 10 years which is subdivided into lower primary, upper primary and high school. After 10 years of secondary schooling, students typically enroll in Higher Secondary Schooling in one of the three major streams—liberal arts, commerce or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students can enroll in general or professional undergraduate programmes. Kerala undertook a "campaign for total literacy" in Ernakulam district in the late 1980s, with a "fusion between the district administration headed by its Collector on one side and, on the other side, voluntary groups, social activists and others".[53] On 4 February 1990, the Government of Kerala endeavoured to replicate the initiative on a statewide level, launching the Kerala State Literacy Campaign.[53] First, households were surveyed with door-to-door, multistage survey visits to form an accurate picture of the literacy landscape and areas that needed special focus. Then, Kala Jāthas (cultural troupes) and Sāksharata Pada Yātras (Literacy Foot Marches) were organised to generate awareness of the campaign and create a receptive social atmosphere for the programme.[53] An integrated management system was created involving state officials, prominent social figures, local -officials and senior voluntary workers to oversee the execution of the campaign.[53]

Himachal literacy successes

Strong government action and community support made Himachal Pradesh one of India's most literate states by 2001

Himachal Pradesh underwent a "Schooling Revolution" in the 1961–2001 period that has been called "even more impressive than Kerala's."[54] Kerala has led the nation in literacy rates since the 19th century and seen sustained initiatives for over 150 years, whereas Himachal Pradesh's literacy rates in 1961 were below the national average in every age group.[54] In the three decadal 1961–1991 period, female literacy in the 15–19 years age group went from 11% to 86%.[54] School attendance for both boys and girls in the 6–14-year age group stood at over 97% each when measured in the 1998–99 school year.[54]

A key factor that has been credited for these advances is Himachal's cultural background. Himachal Pradesh is a Himalayan state with lower social stratification than many other states, which enables social programmes to be carried out more smoothly. Once the Government of Himachal Pradesh was able to establish a social norm that "schooling is an essential part of every child's upbringing," literacy as a normal attribute of life was adopted very rapidly.[54] Government efforts in expanding schools and providing teachers were sustained after the 1960s and communities often responded very collaboratively, including with constructing school rooms and providing firewood essential during the Himalayan winters.[54]

Mizoram literacy successes

Mizoram is the second most literate state in all of India, second only to Kerala, with Serchhip and Aizawl districts being the two most literate districts in India (literacy rate is 98.76% and 98.50%),both in Mizoram[45] Mizoram's literacy rate rose rapidly after independence: from 31.14% in 1951 to 88.80% in 2001.[55] As in Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram has a social structure that is relatively free of hierarchy and strong official intent to produce total literacy.[56] The government identified illiterates and organised an administrative structure that engaged officials and community leaders, and manned by "animators" who were responsible for teaching five illiterates each.[57] Mizoram established 360 continuing education centres to handle continued education beyond the initial literacy teaching and to provide an educational safety net for school drop-outs.[57]

Tamil Nadu literacy successes

One of the pioneers of the scheme is the Madras that started providing cooked meals to children in corporation schools in the Madras city in 1923. The programme was introduced in a large scale in 1960s under the Chief Ministership of K. Kamaraj. The first major thrust came in 1982 when Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M. G. Ramachandran, decided to universalise the scheme for all children up to class 10. Tamil Nadu's midday meal programme is among the best-known in the country.[58] Starting in 1982, Tamil Nadu took an approach to promoting literacy based on free lunches for schoolchildren, "ignoring cynics who said it was an electoral gimmick and economists who said it made little fiscal sense."[59] The then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, MGR launched the programme, which resembled a similar initiative in 19th century Japan, because "he had experienced as a child what it was like to go hungry to school with the family having no money to buy food".[59]

Eventually, the programme covered all children under the age of 15, as well as pregnant women for the first four months of their pregnancy. Tamil Nadu's literacy rate rose from 54.4% in 1981 to 80.3% in 2011.[59] In 2001, the Supreme Court of India instructed all state governments to implement free school lunches in all government-funded schools, but implementation has been patchy due to corruption and social issues.[59] Despite these hurdles, 120 million receive free lunches in Indian schools every day, making it the largest school meal program in the world.[60]

Rajasthan literacy successes

Although the decadal rise from 2001–11 was only 7% (60.4% in 2001 to 67.1% in 2011) Rajasthan had the biggest percentage decadal (1991–2001) increase in literacy of all Indian states, from about 38% to about 61%, a leapfrog that has been termed "spectacular" by some observers.[61] Aggressive state government action, in the form of the District Primary Education Programme, the Shiksha Karmi initiative and the Lok Jumbish programme, are credited with the rapid improvement.[62] Virtually every village in Rajasthan now has primary school coverage.[61] When statehood was granted to Rajasthan in 1956, it was the least literate state in India with a literacy rate of 18%.[62]

Social commentary

Apart from above, the corporate sector in India has pitched in with the aim of improving literacy, primarily in villages around their factories. For example, J K group has helped so far 29,000 plus citizens of India, mostly village women, to move towards literacy – which means being able to sign their name / read sign boards & handle money, in local languages in eight different states. TATA group claims to have added approximately 250,000 literates using their Computer Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) method.

Literacy efforts

The right to education is a fundamental right,[63] and UNESCO aims at education for all by 2015.[63] India, along with the Arab states and sub-Saharan Africa, has a literacy level below the threshold level of 75%, but efforts are on to achieve that level. The campaign to achieve at least the threshold literacy level represents the largest ever civil and military mobilisation in the country.[64] International Literacy Day is celebrated each year on 8 September with the aim to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.

Government efforts

National Literacy Mission

The National Literacy Mission, launched in 1988, aimed at attaining a literacy rate of 41 per cent by 2035. It imparts functional literacy to non-literates in the age group of 35–75 years. The Total Literacy Campaign is the principal strategy of the NLM for eradication of illiteracy. The Continuing Education Scheme provides a learning continuum to the efforts of the Total Literacy and Post Literacy programmes.[40]

The Census 2013 provisional reports indicate that India has made significant progress in the field of literacy during the decade since the previous census in 1991. The literacy rate in 2001 has been recorded at 64.84% as against 52.21% in 1991. The 12.63 percentage points increase in the literacy rate during the period is the highest increase in any decade. Also for the first time there is a decline in the absolute number of non-literates during the past 10 years. The total number of non literates has come down from 328 million in 1991 to 304 million in 2001. During 1991-2000, the population in 7+ age group increased by 176 millions while 201 million additional persons became literate during that period. Out of 864 million people above the age of 7 years, 560 million are now literates. Three-fourths of our male population and more than half of the female population are literate. This indeed is an encouraging indicator for us to speed up our march towards the goal of achieving a sustainable threshold literacy rate of 75% by 2007. The Census 2001 provisional figures also indicate that the efforts of the nation during the past decade to remove the scourge of illiteracy have not gone in vain. The eradication of illiteracy from a vast country like India beset by several social and economic hurdles is not an easy task. Realising this the National Literacy Mission was set up on 5 May 1988 to impart a new sense of urgency and seriousness to adult education. After the success of the areas specific, time bound, voluntary based campaign approach first in Kottayam city and then in Ernakulum district in Kerala in 1990, the National Literacy Mission had accepted the literacy campaigns as the dominant strategy for eradication of illiteracy. Out of 600 districts in the country,597 districts have already been covered under Total Literacy Campaigns. The number of continuing education districts is 328. The creditable performance of the National Literacy Mission received international recognition when it was awarded the UNESCO Noma Literacy Prize for 1999. The International Jury while selecting NLM for the prize recognised its initiation of the Total Literacy Campaigns and also its efforts in galvanising activities towards integration, conservation of the environment, promotion of women's equality, and the preservation of family customs and traditions. The Jury also appreciated the training imparted by NLM, the teaching learning material produced by it and the awareness created by it for the demand for raising both the quality and quantity of primary education. The Bureau of Adult Education and National Literacy Mission under the Department of School Education and Literacy of the Ministry of Human Resource Development functions as the Secretariat of the National Literacy Mission Authority. The General Council of the NLMA is headed by the Minister of Human Resource Development and the Executive Council is headed by the Secretary (Elementary Education and Literacy). The Directorate of Adult Education provides necessary technical and resource support to the NLMA. The National Literacy Mission was revitalised with the approval of the Union Government on 30 September 1999. The Mission's goal is to attain total literacy i.e. a sustainable threshold literacy rate of 75% by 2007. The Mission seeks to achieve this by imparting functional literacy to non-literates in the 15-35 age group. To tackle the problem of residual illiteracy, now it has been decided to adopt an integrated approach to Total Literacy Campaigns and Post Literacy Programme. This means the basic literacy campaigns and post literacy programmes will be implemented under one literacy project called 'Literacy Campaigns an Operation Restoration' to achieve continuity, efficiency and convergence and to minimise unnecessary time lag between the two. Post literacy programmes are treated only as a preparatory phase for launching Continuing Education with the ultimate aim of creating a learning society. In order to promote decentralization, the State Literacy Mission Authorities have been given the authority to sanction continuing education projects to Districts and literacy related projects to voluntary agencies in their States. The scheme of Jan Shikshan Sansthan or Institute of People's Education, previously known as the Scheme of Shramik Vidyapeeth was initially evolved as a non-formal continuing education programme to respond to the educational and vocational training needs of adults and young people living in urban and industrial areas and for persons who had migrated from rural to urban settings. Now the Institutes' activities have been enlarged and infrastructure strengthened to enable them to function as district level repositories of vocational and technical skills in both urban and rural areas. At present there are 221 Jan Shikshan Sansthans in the India.

Ever since its inception the National Literacy Mission has taken measures to strengthen its partnership with NGOs and to evolve both institutional and informal mechanisms to give voluntary organisations active promotional role in the literacy movement. Now under the scheme of Support to NGOs they are encouraged and provided with financial assistance to run post literacy and continuing education programmes in well defined areas. In order to revitalise, re-energise and expand the role of State Resource Centres, not only their number is being increased but also their infrastructure and resource facilities are being strengthened to enable them to play the role of catalytic agents in adult education. There are 25 State Resource Centres working across the country. They are mainly responsible for organising training programmes for literacy functionaries in the State and to prepare literacy material in local languages. The Directorate of Adult Education, a sub-ordinate office of the Department of School Education and Literacy has been entrusted with the task of monitoring and evaluating the various literacy programmes being launched under the aegis of the National Literacy Mission. It also provides technical and resource support to the NLM including media support to enable it to achieve its objectives.

The National Literacy Mission is laying great stress on vigorous monitoring and systematic evaluation of adult education programmes launched under its aegis in the country. It has developed and circulated guidelines for concurrent and final evaluation of the Total Literacy Campaigns and Post Literacy Programmes. A comprehensive set of guidelines on continuing education have also been prepared. So far, about 424 Total Literacy Campaign districts and 176 Post Literacy districts have been evaluated by the external evaluation agencies. So far, 32 districts have been externally evaluated during continuing education phase. It is hoped that the new approach of evaluating literacy campaigns and continuing-education schemes will ensure complete transparency and enhance the credibility of the results and impact assessments.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Hindi for Total Literacy Campaign) was launched in 2001 to ensure that all children in the 6–14-year age-group attend school and complete eight years of schooling by 2010. An important component of the scheme is the Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education, meant primarily for children in areas with no formal school within a one kilometre radius. The centrally sponsored District Primary Education Programme, launched in 1994, had opened more than 160,000 new schools by 2005, including almost 84,000 alternative schools.[40]

Non-governmental efforts

The bulk of Indian illiterates live in the country's rural areas, where social and economic barriers play an important role in keeping the lowest strata of society illiterate. Government programmes alone, however well-intentioned, may not be able to dismantle barriers built over centuries. Major social reformation efforts are sometimes required to bring about a change in the rural scenario. Specific mention is to be made regarding the role of the People's Science Movements (PSMs) in the Literacy Mission in India during the early 1990s.[65] Several non-governmental organisations such as Pratham, ITC, Rotary Club, Lions Club have worked to improve the literacy rate in India.

Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation

Shantha Sinha won a Magsaysay Award in 2003 in recognition of "her guiding the people of Andhra Pradesh to end the scourge of child labour and send all of their children to school." As head of an extension programme at the University of Hyderabad in 1987, she organised a three-month-long camp to prepare children rescued from bonded labour to attend school. Later, in 1991, she guided her family's Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation to take up this idea as part of its overriding mission in Andhra Pradesh. Her original transition camps grew into full-fledged residential "bridge schools." The foundation's aim is to create a social climate hostile to child labour, child marriage and other practices that deny children the right to a normal childhood. Today the MV Foundation's bridge schools and programmes extend to 4,300 villages.[66]

Definition of literacy

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has drafted a definition of literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society."[67]

The National Literacy Mission defines literacy as acquiring the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic and the ability to apply them to one's day-to-day life. The achievement of functional literacy implies (i) self-reliance in 3 R's, (ii) awareness of the causes of deprivation and the ability to move towards amelioration of their condition by participating in the process of development, (iii) acquiring skills to improve economic status and general well being, and (iv) imbibing values such as national integration, conservation of environment, women's equality, observance of small family norms.

The working definition of literacy in the Indian census since 1991 is as follows:[68]

Crude literacy rate = number of literate person divided by total population multiplied by 100

Effective literacy rate (or literacy rate) = number of literate persons aged 7 or above divided by population aged 7 and above multiplied by 100

See also

References

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  34. ↑ "India's Literacy Panorama". Source: Education for all in India. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  35. 1 2 "Gender Inequalities and Demographic Behaviour" (PDF). Source:Snap3. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  36. 1 2 Statistical Pocket Book India 2003
  37. ↑ India 2005 published by Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
  38. 1 2 India Talks – Amartya Sen, MediaWeb India, retrieved 2009-09-20, ... would make India literate in 40 years, and the nationalist leaders rightly laughed it out of court, on the grounds that India did not have the patience to remain for 40 years without Universal Literacy. Now 50 years have gone by, and the country is still half illiterate, two-thirds of the women are illiterate ...
  39. ↑ Hunter, William Wilson, Sir, et al. (1908). Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1908-1931; Clarendon Press, Oxford
  40. 1 2 3 India 2005
  41. ↑ Economic Survey 2004–05.
  42. ↑ "Literacy as seen in the 2001 census" (PDF). Union Budget.
  43. 1 2 "State of Literacy" (PDF).
  44. ↑ K.R. Nayar; Anant Kumar (July 2005), "Health Analysis – Kerala and Bihar: A Comparison", Yojana, 49, SSRN 1354541Freely accessible, ... The inter-sectoral action needs to be recognized for achieving any health improvement in Bihar. What is also needed is a 'Bihar discourse' instead of 'Bihar bashing' ...
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 "Census 2011: Provisional Population Tools" (PDF). The Hindu. Chennai, India.
  46. 1 2 "Literacy Rate on the Rise, 11th Plan Targets 80%", The India Post, 4 September 2008, retrieved 2009-11-28, ... In all the States and Union Territories the male literacy rate except Bihar (59.68%) is now over 60% ...
  47. ↑ Tom Sticht (7 July 2004), Paradigms of Learning: The Total Literacy Campaign in India, retrieved 2009-11-30, ... I served as a member of UNESCO's International Jury for Literacy Prizes ... in 1981 when the jury awarded a prize to the Department of Adult Education of the state of Bihar for its massive state-wide literacy campaign ...
  48. 1 2 3 4 Manoranjan Mohanty (2004), Class, caste and gender: Volume 5 of Readings in Indian government and politics, SAGE, ISBN 0-7619-9643-5, ... dalits did not send their children to the regular school because they were humiliated ... Even when there is no overt social discrimination ... cannot afford books and stationery ... cannot afford the bribes, without which it is impossible to be offered a job ...
  49. 1 2 "Bihar teachers under attendance watch", Bihar Times, 10 September 2009, archived from the original on 3 January 2010, retrieved 2009-11-30, ... government last month warned that salaries of teachers in government schools would not be paid if they failed to ensure at least 75 percent attendance ...
  50. ↑ "Tripura tops literacy rate with 94.65 per cent, leaves behind Kerala". News18. 9 September 2013.
  51. ↑ "Tripura beats Kerala in literacy chart". 8 September 2013 – via The Hindu.
  52. ↑ "How Tripura became India's top literate state". Governance Now. 9 September 2013.
  53. 1 2 3 4 Amita Singh (2005), Administrative reforms: towards sustainable practices, SAGE, ISBN 0-7619-3392-1, ... the social and administrative mechanism that led to the success of the campaign included several measures ...
  54. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jean Drèze; Amartya Sen (2002), India: development and participation, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-925749-3, ... Himachal Pradesh's transition from mass illiteracy to near-universal elementary education has been even more impressive than Kerala's ... taken place over a much shorter period in time in Himachal Pradesh than in Kerala, where sustained educational expansion began in the 19th century ...
  55. ↑ Vanlalchhawna (2006), Higher education in North-East India: unit cost analysis, Mittal Publications, ISBN 81-8324-056-9, ... from 31.14% in 1951 to 88.8% in 2001, an increase of 57.7%, whereas the all-India literacy rates ...
  56. ↑ Lalit Kumar Jha (1997), Natural Resource Management: Mizoram, APH Publishing, ISBN 81-7024-781-0, ... Mizoram has certainly distinguished itself amongst the states of India ... a closely knit society ... village councils having a definite bearing on the social and administrative setups, educational facilities ...
  57. 1 2 "Mizoram imparts a lesson in literacy to the country", Rediff, 22 November 1999, retrieved 2009-12-06, ... The Mizoram government drew up a detailed plan primed towards achieving total literacy. Each animator was given the task of teaching five persons at a time ... the Centre has laid stress on this programme, sanctioning ₹ 4567,000 to establish 360 Continuing Education Centres and 40 more nodal centres spread across the state ...
  58. ↑ TNN, 14 May 2003, 07.29 pm IST (14 May 2003). "Tamil Nadu India's most literate state: HRD ministry – City – The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  59. 1 2 3 4 "India fights illiteracy with lunch", Asia Times, 20 May 2008, retrieved 2009-11-28, ... noon-meal scheme for children was first pioneered in 1982 by iconic movie star and Tamil Nadu chief minister M G Ramachandran (1917–1987), the world's first film hero to head a government. MGR, as he was called, started the free lunch for school children scheme, ignoring cynics who said it was an electoral gimmick and economists who said it made little fiscal sense ...
  60. ↑ Geeta Gandhi Kingdon (March 2007), The progress of school education in India (PDF), Global Poverty Research Group, Economic and Social Research Council, retrieved 2009-11-28, ... In late 2001, the Indian Supreme Court directed all states "to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every government and government assisted primary school with a prepared midday meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8- 12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days." By 2006, the MDM scheme was near universal in all states ... the central government provides grains, funds transportation and also pays food preparation costs, though the state government is responsible for providing the physical infrastructure for cooking the meals ... The scheme provides lunch to about 120 million children every school day and, as such, is the largest school meal scheme in the world ...
  61. 1 2 "A spectacular march by Rajasthan", Frontline (The Hindu), 7 December 2001, retrieved 2009-11-28, ... Rajasthan's improvement ... recorded the highest percentage increase in literacy rate among Indian States ... the percentage point increase in female literacy is the highest in Rajasthan ...
  62. 1 2 Dey, Anindo (6 October 2008), "Rajasthan passes literacy test with flying colours", Times of India, retrieved 2009-11-28, ... thanks to some public initiatives taken like the Lok Jumbish and the Shiksha Karmi ...
  63. 1 2 UNESCO, UNESCO
  64. ↑ "National Literacy Mission website". Nlm.nic.in. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  65. ↑ Thakur, D. N. (1 January 2004). "Primary Education And Adult Literacy (2Nd Edition)". Deep & Deep Publications – via Google Books.
  66. ↑ "Shantha Sinha's Magsaysay Award Citation". Rmaf.org.ph. 31 August 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  67. ↑ UNESCO Education Sector, "The Plurality of Literacy and its implications for Policies and Programmes: Position Paper". Paris: United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 2004, p. 13, citing an international expert meeting in June 2003 at UNESCO.
  68. ↑ Preventive and social medicine by K. Park, 19th edition(2007), M/s Banarsidas Bhanot, Jabalpur, India
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