Literacy level and educational attainment are vital developmental indicators in a developing nation like India as they are key variable of measure of development as they indicate quality of life, awareness level and also level of skill of people in the society. Better literacy and educational level definitely have a positive impact on the health parameters. Education parameters have an equal weight-age in the Human Development Index as well. Condering the importance of education, India has enacted Right to Education to ensure free and compulsory Education for children in the age group 6- 14 years.
Following tables have been framed to analyse gender disaggregated data on literacy and education:-
Literacy Rate:-
As per 2011 census, literacy rate in India has been reported as 74.04% with a 14% increase to that in 2001, whereas the hike is maximum for rural women at 26% in the last decade, which may be attributed to literacy mission of Government of India. Overall female literacy rate in India much lower than that of male literacy rate.
The female literacy levels according to the Literacy Rate 2011 census are 65.46% whereas the male literacy rate is over 80%.
Kerala is the state with highest literacy rate at 94% and Bihar with the lowest literacy rate at just 63.82. Being a very vast country with second largest population, India has limited resources to make aware its below poverty line population about the Government interventions and the law providing them the Right to Education.
The highest male literacy rate is also observed in Kerala at 96.1% followed by Lakshadweep at 95.6% and minimum for Bihar & Arunachal Pradesh. Female literacy is maximum for Kerala, followed by Lakshadweep and lowest for Bihar & followed by Rajasthan. A little more than half of the females are literate in these States
Adult Literacy Rate:-
The adult literacy rate (15+) for male has increased from 73.4 to 78.8 whereas increase in adult literacy is more in case of females from 47.8 to 59.3 from 2001 to 2011. In 2011, just half of the rural adult females are literate against 76.9% urban females. 88.3% Urban adult males are literate against 74.1 rural adult males. Overall adult literacy is increasing over decades (details in Tables 3.5 and 3.6).
Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER):-
The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for females at the primary level stood at 102.65 compared with 100.20 for males in 2013-14. At the middle class level, the GER for females has been reported as 92.75 against 86.31 for males and at the higher secondary level, 51.58 and 52.77 is the Gross enrollment ratio for females and males during 2013-14. There were 93 girls per 100 boys in primary classes, 95 in middles classes and 90 in secondary classes during 2013- 14 against lesser ratios in the earlier decade (Details in Table 3.7).
Drop-out Rates:-
The Drop-out Rates were observed to be 4.66 and 4.68 in the classes I-V, 4.01 and 2.3 in classes I-VIII for females and males respectively indicating that the drop out at primary level is at par for both the genders but the gap increases in higher classes (Details may be seen in Table 3.9).
Number of Girls per 100 Boys Enrolled in Schools:- Table 3.8
Number of Female Teachers per 100 Male Teachers at Different Levels of Education:- Table 3.10
Number of Females per 100 Males in University Education in Major Disciplines:- Table 3.11
Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER):-
The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for females at the primary level stood at 102.65 compared with 100.20 for males in 2013-14. At the middle class level, the GER for females has been reported as 92.75 against 86.31 for males and at the higher secondary level, 51.58 and 52.77 is the Gross enrollment ratio for females and males during 2013-14. There were 93 girls per 100 boys in primary classes, 95 in middles classes and 90 in secondary classes during 2013- 14 against lesser ratios in the earlier decade (Details in Table 3.7).
Drop-out Rates:-
The Drop-out Rates were observed to be 4.66 and 4.68 in the classes I-V, 4.01 and 2.3 in classes I-VIII for females and males respectively indicating that the drop out at primary level is at par for both the genders but the gap increases in higher classes (Details may be seen in Table 3.9).
Number of Girls per 100 Boys Enrolled in Schools:- Table 3.8
Number of Female Teachers per 100 Male Teachers at Different Levels of Education:- Table 3.10
Number of Females per 100 Males in University Education in Major Disciplines:- Table 3.11
