Revision as of 18:14, 18 October 2014

Literacy in 2006

Indian states with the best/ worst literacy dropout rate, 2004-12. Source: The Times of India

India has 37% of world's illiterate adults

IANS| Jan 29, 2014

India has by far the largest population of illiterate adults — 287 million or 37 per cent of the global total, according to the "EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2013-14: Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for All." Commissioned by Unesco, it said that 10 countries (including India) account for 557 million or 72 per cent of the global population of illiterate adults.

"India's literacy rate rose from 48 per cent in 1991 to 63 per cent in 2006, (the latest year for which data was available), but population growth cancelled the gains. So there was no change in the number of illiterate adults," the report said.

Though India has more than 99 per cent children in schools because of the Right to Education Act, the quality of education being imparted is a big challenge that should be addressed, a top Unesco officer said.

The report also said that a global learning crisis was costing governments $129 billion a year, and that 10 per cent of global spending on primary education was being lost on poor quality education that was failing to ensure that children learn.

"It leaves one in four young people in poor countries unable to read a single sentence, affecting one-third of young women in South and West Asia," it said.

The countries include Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Out-of-school children

RTE effect: 26% drop in number of out-of-school kids since 2009

Akshaya Mukul

The Times of India Oct 14 2014

In a vindication of sorts for the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the latest HRD ministry-mandated survey shows a 26% drop in out-of-school children in the country since 2009.

According to the latest survey conducted by Indian Market Research Bureau for the ministry , out-of-school (OoS) children have declined to 60.6 lakh -2.97% of all children in the 6-14 age group -from 81.5 lakh in 2009. The first survey in 2005 found 1.34 crore out of school.

There were less girls (28.9 lakh) out of school than boys (31.7 lakh). In fact, girls have done better than boys in all three surveys.

A survey of OoS slum children was done for the first time and their number was found to be 4.73 lakh.

The survey found a continuing drop in the number of OoS children among Scheduled Castes and Muslims. Among tribal OoS children, the drop was marginal -from 10.69 lakh in 2009 to 10.07 lakh in 2014. In terms of social classes, the number of SC out-ofschool (OoS) children have come down to 19.66 lakh from 23.08 lakh in 2009 and 31.04 lakh in 2005.

In the latest survey found there were 15.57 lakh Muslim OoS children, down from 18.75 lakh in 2009 and 22.53 lakh in 2005.

While states such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Delhi, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal witnessed a decline in the OoS children, in 13 states and Union Territories percentage of such children has increased since 2009.

These include Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand.

What dampens the good work of RTE is that the decline in OoS disabled children has followed a different trajectory.

In 2005, 5.82 lakh disabled children were out of school which went up to 9.88 lakh in 2009 and in the latest round has come down to 6 lakh. Sources said it could be due to inclusion of more kinds of mental and physical disabilities in the list so that RTE becomes more inclusive. But there is a general acknowledgement that a lot needs to be done on this front.