Eternal India Encyclopedia

EDUCATION

Eternal India encyclopedia

TICKING TOWARDS TOTAL LITERACY

In the 1991 census India attained a literacy rate of 52.2 %. In this census the question on literacy was canvassed only for the popula- tion aged seven years of age and above unlike the practice till 1981 of canvassing the question for the population aged five years and above. In the 1991 census, as in earlier censuses, among other characteristics the literacy status of each individual was ascertained by applying the yard stick of whether one could read and write with understanding in any of the languages. Recognising the fact that ability to read and write with understanding is not ordinarily achieved until one has some schooling or atleast time to develop these skills, it was felt that only the population aged seven years and above should be classified as literate or illiterate. Of the 838.58 million people counted during the 1991 census, excluding Jammu & Kashmir where the census was not held, there were 688.16 million aged seven years and above. Of these 359.28 million were literates and 328.88 million were illiterate. Thus for the first time the number of literates has exceeded the number of illiterates (The 1981 literacy rate was 43.56 for the population aged seven years and above and 41.42 for the popu- lation aged five years and above). The literacy rate for males in 1991 was 64.13 % and for females 39.29%. This shows that in the case of females the trend of more illiterates than literates continues. The urban-rural divide in literacy rates was marked with the urban literacy rate in 1991 at 73.01 % compared to the rural literacy rate of 44.54 %. Although literacy rates were higher in urban than in rural areas a majority of literates live in rural areas because a vast majority of the country’s population still lives in rural area. In 1991 only 26.13% of the country’s population lived in urban areas. It must be recognised, however, that India already has achieved much in the field of education. The number of recognised institutions has increased. The national stock of educated manpower is estimated to have increased from less than four million to about 48 million . It is significant to note that facilities have not only increased, but also diversified at all levels and in different subjects. The enrolment for post-graduate studies and science subjects has increased. Extensive facilities available for education in a variety of branches of engineering and technology have contributed significantly to our achievements in areas like atomic energy and satellite communications. The country's sizable educated labour force - one of the world's largest - is clearly a boon. Although quality varies the best among the educated are on a par with the best anywhere. India provides a remarkably good education in engineering, particularly at the undergraduate level. The leading schools are the five Indian Institutes of Technology, set up with assistance from the US, the UK, the USSR, and West Germany; they graduate about 1,200 engineers each year. The regional colleges of engineering at various locations have facilities for post-graduate studies. In addition the government has set up a number of institutes that offer three-year courses of study, leading to diplomas (rather than five-year courses that lead to a bachelor's degree). Business administration is a relatively new discipline in India. The four Indian Institutes of Management (located at Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bangalore and Lucknow) together with Xavier's Labour Relations Institute, Kharagpur are considered the best. They offer two-year residential courses leading to a diploma, equivalent to a master's degree. In addition 52 universities in India offer a master's degree course in business administration.

Education, one of India's major assets, is now being restructured completely, so that it becomes "an effective instrument for taking the country into the 21st century". An asset, because of the large pool of well-educated and highly trained manpower in virtually all disciplines. But, on the other side of the book , there are millions of illiterates . The National Policy on Education (NPE) adopted in 1986 seeks to establish a National System of Education which lays down an overall curricular framework and a curriculum to establish comparability of competence at the end of various stages of education all over the country. Creating jobs for the educated unemployed is a problem that can be solved only by rapid economic development. The government's goal of virtually eliminating illiteracy by the year 2000, is equally daunting. The scope of the existing level of school education is being expanded with vocational training, covering various trades, introduced at the secondary school level. "Notwithstanding the commitment to universal literacy and learning enunciated in the Constitution, it has not been easy to ensure universal access to and equity in education. Widespread educational disparities of various kinds such as between the rural and urban areas, men and women, persist and tend to get accentuated. Negative parental attitudes reinforced by poverty and gender discrimination, apathy towards education and universal literacy as agents of social and economic change, an unhelpful environment lacking adequate understanding of the value of literacy have all contributed to increase in illiteracy and deterioration of educational standards". (Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma) The indispensable component of Human Resource Development is literacy. The aim of imparting functional literacy to 80 million adult illiterates in the 15-35 age group by 1995 has been attempted by the National Literacy Mission. Over 32,000 Jana Shikshana Nilayams (JSNs) have been sanctioned since May 1988 by the National Literacy Mission. 32 Post-Literacy and Continuing Education (P L C E) centres have been approved covering 56 districts with neo-literate coverage totaling to 132.43 lakh persons. During the 8th Five Year Plan an allocation of Rs. 1400 crores has been made. It is expected that at the end of the Plan period 345 districts or roughly 75% of the districts in the country would be covered by the total literacy campaigns. Among the States and Union Territories the first position continues to be held by Kerala with a literacy rate of 90.59%. Mizoram comes second with 81.23% and Lakshadweep third with 79.23%. The bottom position is occupied by Bihar with 38.54%, preceded by Rajastan with 38.81%, Dadra & Nagar Haveli (39.45%), Arunachal Pradesh (41.22%), Uttar Pradesh (41.71%) and Andhra Pradesh (45.11%). In 1981 almost half (48.76%) of the population of India lived in seven States and Union Territories where the literacy rate was less than 40.00% and 4.95 % literacy in four States-UTs where the literacy rate was more than 70%. By 1991 the percentage of population living in states with literacy rate of less than 40% had changed to 15.97 and those with literacy rate of 70% or more to 5.18 %. The number of States and UTs in these ranges is two and nine respectively reflect- ing increases in literacy rates in all the States and UTs.