Literacy in India 2013

LITERACY IN INDIA 2013

Education is an instrument that enriches our thinking and empowers our living. No illiterate country is prosperous. No fully literate country is poor. Parts of India where literacy rate is higher, e.g., Kerala, have much better health indices than other states.

Literacy in India at the end of British rule was 12% and it became 74% in 2013. But this is still below the world average of 84%. The literacy rate in India is lower than its own three of the neighboring countries like China with 93% of literacy rate, Sri Lanka with 91% with literacy rate and Myanmar with 90% with literacy rate.

The reasons for the poor performance are poor infrastructure, lack of toilets, lack of drinking water, lack of sufficient number of teachers, the absence of teachers, poverty, caste discrimination and lack of other important facilities.

It is surprising that education increases our life span too. For instance, Kerala, with 95% literacy, has a life span of approximately 75 years, while Bihar, with 64% literacy, has life span of approximately 65 years. Education has got influence on infant mortality too. While in Kerala 10 infants die out of 1000 births, in Bihar 61 infants die out of 1000 births.

The top most State in literacy is Kerala with 95.5% literacy. The two outstanding states in India after Kerala which have come up well in the field of education are Tripura with 95.65% literacy and Mizoram with 93.4% literacy. The two most literate districts in India are Serchhip and Aizawl districts. Both are in Mizoram.

A government initiative that has helped millions of school children in the mid-day meal scheme, first launched in Tamil Nadu by the former chief minister Kamarajar. Right now, India has the largest meal scheme for school children in the world by reaching out to 120 million students.

For further detail, see: http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/literacy-rate-in-india.html