copyRight
Seminar on progress of literacy in india:
what the Census 2001 preveals
NIEPA, New Delhi, October 05, 2002
Some Significant Features of Literacy
Data of the 2001 Census and Projection of Literacy Rate for the Population of
age group 15+
ABL Srivastava
Chief Consultant (RESU)
Ed. CIL's TSG –
DPEP, New Delhi, INDIA
1.Growth in literacy
The literacy rate of the population aged 7+ according to the 2001
population census is 65.4 whereas it was only 52.2 in 1991. The growth has been
much faster compared to that of the previous decade since the literacy rate
increased by 13.2 percentage points between 1991 and 2001, whereas it had
increased only by 8.6 percentage points between 1981 and 1991. In fact, the growth during 1991-2001
exceeded that of every previous decade.
Since the growth in terms of percentage points generally slows down as
one approaches the ceiling of 100%, the accelerated growth during 1991-2001 can
be considered as a great achievement. Another remarkable feature of the results
on literacy in 2001 census is that, for the first time, the number of
non-literates declined between 1991 and 2001, instead of increasing. Upto 1991,
in spite of some increase in literacy rate between two consecutive census
years, the number of non-literates did not decline, but continued to increase.
This trend was reversed in 2001 because of the rapid rise in the number of
literates and some slowing down of population growth rate during
1991-2001. Between 1991 and 2001, while
the number of literates increased by 203.6 million (that is, by 56.8%), the
number of non-literates decreased by 32.0 million (that is, by 9.7%). It is
expected that the trend of decline in the number of non-literates will continue
and the size of non-literate population will diminish substantially in the
years to come.
2.Gender difference
Table 1 shows the literacy rate in the age group 7+ for the census
years 1981, 1991 and 2001, and Table 2 shows the number of literates and
non-literates in 1991 and 2001.
Table 1:
Literacy Rate for the population of age 7+ in 1981, 1991 and 2001
|
Literacy
rate |
Increase
|
1981
|
1991
|
2001
|
1981-91
|
1991-2001
|
Male |
56.4
|
64.1
|
75.9
|
7.7
|
11.8
|
Female |
29.8
|
39.3
|
54.2
|
9.5
|
14.9
|
Total
|
43.6
|
52.2
|
65.4
|
8.6
|
13.2
|
Gender gap (M-F)
|
26.6
|
24.8
|
21.7
|
-
|
-
|
Table 2: Number
of literates and non-literates of age 7+ in 1991 and 2001
|
1991
|
2001
|
Increase
1991-2001 |
%
Increase 1991-2001 |
Number of literates (in millions)
|
Male |
229.0
|
337.0
|
108.0
|
47.2
|
Female |
129.4
|
225.0
|
95.6
|
73.9
|
Total
|
358.4
|
562.0
|
203.6
|
56.8
|
Number of non-literates (in
millions) |
Male |
128.1
|
106.6
|
-21.5
|
-16.8
|
Female |
200.1
|
189.6
|
-10.5
|
-5.2
|
Total
|
328.2
|
296.2
|
-32.0
|
-9.8
|
The literacy rate of males is 75.85 and of females, 54.16 in 2001.
The gender gap has reduced slightly compared to what it was in 1981 and
1991. The highest difference between
the literacy rate of males and females of age 7+ was 26.62 in 1981; it reduced
to 24.84 in 1991 and further to 21.70 in 2001. Apparently there has been
greater progress in improvement of literacy rate of females over the last two
decades, since it increased from 29.76 in 1981 to 54.16 in 2001 (i.e. by 24.40
percentage points), whereas the literacy rate of males increased from 56.38 in
1981 to 75.85 in 2001, that is, by 19.47 percentage points. But even with the greater increase in the
literacy rate of females, the gender gap is fairly large, since the number of
non-literate females is 189.6 million against 106.7 million non-literate males,
that is, there are 83 million more non-literate females.
The relatively higher growth in literacy rate of females (14.9
points) compared to that of males (11.7 points) between 1991 and 2001, hides
the fact that between 1991 and 2001, the increase in the number of literate
females was a little less than the increase in the number of literate males.
While the number of literate males increased by 108.0 million between 1991 and
2001, the corresponding increase in the number of literate females was by 95.6
million, which is 88.5% of the former. Since there were 200 non-literate
females of age 7+ as against 128 non-literate males in 1991, the gap was too
large to bridge. In a way, the gap has widened as the number of non-literate
males decreased by 21.4 million between 1991 and 2001, while the number of
non-literate females decreased by only 10.5 million over this period. The
reason for slower progress made in reduction of the number of non-literate
females can be traced to the difference in enrolment ratios and dropout rates
of boys and girls at the primary stage. According to the National Family Health
Survey (NFHS-2) while 85.2% boys in the
age group 6-10 were attending school, only 78.3% girls were doing so in
1998-99. The same survey showed that while the median number of years of
schooling was 5.5 for males of age 6+, it was only 1.6 for females of age 6+.
Among the total students enrolled in classes I-V in 1999-2000, only 43.6% were
girls and the Gross Enrolment Ratio was 104.1 for boys against 85.2 for girls,
according to the Ministry of HRD statistical report for 1999-2000. The dropout
rate also has been a little higher for girls; while 38.7% of boys entering
grade I dropped out before grade V, 42.3% girls did so (according to the same
Ministry of HRD statistics for the year 1999-2000).
3.State to state variations in literacy rate
The literacy rate varies considerably
across the states. While Kerala remains on the top with 90.9% literacy rate,
Bihar is at the bottom with 47.5% literacy rate. In 1991 also, it had the
lowest literacy rate of 37.5% among the states and Union Territories. Except
Bihar, all the states and Union Territories which had literacy rate below 50%
in 1991, are now in 'over 50%' bracket. Of the states and Union Territories
which were close to or below all India literacy rate of 52.2 in 1991, some have
made tremendous progress while in others the progress has been rather tardy.
Table 3 shows the literacy rate of these states and UTs in 1991 and 2001.
Table
3: Literacy rate of the below average states
for
the population of age 7+ in 2001
|
1991
|
2001
|
Increase
1991-2001 |
Gender
gap |
States
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
1991
|
2001
|
Rajasthan |
55.0
|
20.4
|
38.6
|
76.5
|
44.3
|
61.0
|
22.4
|
34.6
|
32.1
|
Uttar Pradesh |
54.8
|
24.4
|
40.7
|
70.2
|
43.0
|
57.4
|
16.7
|
30.4
|
27.3
|
Bihar |
51.4
|
22.0
|
37.5
|
60.3
|
33.6
|
47.5
|
10.0
|
29.4
|
26.8
|
Arunachal Pradesh |
51.5
|
29.7
|
41.6
|
64.1
|
44.2
|
54.7
|
13.1
|
21.8
|
19.8
|
Meghalaya |
53.1
|
44.8
|
49.1
|
66.1
|
60.4
|
63.3
|
14.2
|
8.3
|
5.7
|
Assam |
61.9
|
43.0
|
52.9
|
71.9
|
56.0
|
64.3
|
11.4
|
18.9
|
15.9
|
Jharkhand |
55.8
|
25.5
|
41.4
|
67.9
|
39.4
|
54.1
|
12.7
|
30.3
|
28.6
|
Orissa |
63.1
|
34.7
|
49.1
|
76.0
|
51.0
|
63.6
|
14.5
|
28.4
|
25.0
|
Chhatisgarh |
58.1
|
27.5
|
42.9
|
77.9
|
52.4
|
65.2
|
22.3
|
30.6
|
25.5
|
Madhya Pradesh |
58.5
|
29.4
|
44.7
|
76.8
|
50.3
|
64.1
|
19.4
|
29.1
|
26.5
|
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
|
53.6
|
27.0
|
40.7
|
73.3
|
43.0
|
60.0
|
19.3
|
26.6
|
30.3
|
Andhra Pradesh |
55.1
|
32.7
|
44.1
|
70.9
|
51.2
|
61.1
|
17.0
|
22.4
|
19.7
|
INDIA
|
64.1
|
39.3
|
52.2
|
76.0
|
54.3
|
65.5
|
13.3
|
24.9
|
21.7
|
Incidentally, these are the States and UTs, which are even now below
the all India literacy rate of 65.4. The literacy rate in Assam is close to the
all India figure in both 1991 and 2001.Bihar and Jharkhand are the only states
in the above group in which the decadal increase is the lowest. The most significant increase has taken
place in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh, which are known to have been backward in education. Orissa and
Meghalaya also made significant progress, though not to the same extent as some
other states. In Rajasthan, there have been some noteworthy initiatives in
education during the late eighties and nineties such as Lok Jumbish and Shiksha
Karmi projects, which have apparently made visible impact.In Madhya Pradesh
also, the Education Guarantee Scheme, the District Primary Education Programme
and programmes like Mahila Samakhaya have apparently made some impact. Among the new states, Jharkhand and
Chhatisgarh are both ahead of the states from which they were carved out, in
respect of both male and female literacy rates. These are the tribal parts of
the original states which are generally more backward, but it seems that in
literacy they have benefited significantly from the educational activities of
the missionaries and state Departments of Tribal Welfare. Uttaranchal is also
far ahead of Uttar Pradesh from which it was carved out, showing that the hilly
and tribal areas even though economically backward, have been relatively better
off in education.
In respect of female literacy, it is again Bihar and Jharkhand,
which are at the bottom (33.6% in Bihar and 39.4% in Jharkhand). The states
where the gender gap is quite large (25% points or more) are Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the gender
gap in these states being in the range of 25 to 32 percentage points. In 1991,
the state with lowest female literacy rate was Rajasthan (20.4) followed by
Bihar (22.0) and Uttar Pradesh (24.4). Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh and Madhya
Pradesh have achieved maximum decadal growth in female literacy (23.9, 24.9 and
20.9 respectively). However, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Orissa and Andhra
Pradesh are not far behind, as the decadal increase in their female literacy
rate is in the range of 16 to 19 percentage points. Even though the states with
very low female literacy have made good progress in bridging the gender gap,
they require some more concerted efforts to reduce the gap further in the
future. The enrolment and retention of girls in these states must increase and
there should be more emphasis on adult literacy programmes for females.
4.Past trend in literacy
Having presented some of the significant features of literacy data
available at this stage from the 2001 census, let us now examine the trend in
literacy over the period 1961-2001. The literacy rate was as low as 28.3 for
the age group 5+ in 1961; it has now more than doubled to 65.4 for the age
group 7+ in 2001. Table 4 shows the literacy rate for the age groups 7+ and 15+
for the census years 1961 to 2001 and for the years 1995/96, 1997 and 1998
based on NSS data. For 2001, the literacy rate for age 15+ is obtained by
simple extrapolation.
Table
4: Literacy rate of the population in the age groups 7+ and 15+, 1961 to 2001
Year
|
Literacy
Rate (Age 7+) |
Literacy
rate (Age 15+) |
Gender
difference (M-F) |
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Age7+
|
Age15+
|
1961
|
40.4
|
15.4
|
28.3
|
41.5
|
13.2
|
27.8
|
25.0
|
28.3
|
1971a
|
46.0
|
22.0
|
34.5
|
47.7
|
19.4
|
34.1
|
24.0
|
28.3
|
1981
|
56.4
|
29.8
|
43.6
|
54.9
|
25.8
|
40.9
|
26.6
|
29.1
|
1991
|
64.1
|
39.3
|
52.2
|
61.3
|
34.1
|
48.2
|
24.8
|
27.2
|
1995-96
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
67.3
|
40.7
|
54.3
|
-
|
26.6
|
1997
|
73
|
50
|
62
|
70
|
43
|
57
|
23
|
27
|
1998
|
73
|
51
|
62
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
22
|
-
|
2001
|
75.9
|
54.2
|
65.4
|
71.1
|
47.1
|
59.4
|
21.7
|
24.0
|
The growth in literacy rate was almost linear between 1961 and 1991,
but there was a clear shift from the linear trend after 1991. There was a spurt in growth rate of literacy
after 1991; however, the reduction in gender gap was rather slow.
5.Contribution of school education
to the rise in literacy
Whether the sharp increase in literacy rate after 1991 was more due
to the progress made towards universalisation of primary education or to the
adult literacy programmes, can be decided only when the literacy data by age
becomes available. As this stage, only some conjectures can be made on the
basis of the available data on literacy by age from the 1991 census and certain
assumptions that may or may not prove to be true eventually. Table 5 shows the
literacy rate of the population in the different age groups for the years 1961
to 1991.
Table
5:Literacy rate in different age groups, 1961 - 1998/99
Age
group |
1961
|
1971
|
1981
|
1991
|
NFHS-2
1998-99 |
10-14
|
42.3
|
49.6
|
56.3
|
68.5
|
81.8
|
15-19
|
38.4
|
51.3
|
55.5
|
65.7
|
76.9
|
20-24
|
33.6
|
44.7
|
52.0
|
57.9
|
67.0a
|
25-34
|
28.5
|
34.8
|
45.0
|
50.9
|
56.9b
|
35+ |
22.2
|
25.2
|
30.3
|
38.0
|
45.2c
|
15+
|
27.8
|
34.1
|
40.9
|
48.2
|
58.6
|
a) Age group: 20-29; b) Age group: 30-39;
c) Age group: 40+
It seems reasonable to assume that the literacy rate for the age
group 15-19 will increase by about 12 percentage points between 1991 and
2001. Thus it should become about 78
in 2001. This assumption is supported
by the data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) conducted in 1998-99,
which reports the literacy rate for the age group 15-19 as 76.9. The literacy
rate in the different age groups in 2001 will be as shown in Table 6, if there
is no impact of adult literacy programmes during 1991-2001. Actually the
literacy rate of any given age group, say 15-34 in 2001 will be the same as
that of the 10 years younger age group, 15-24 in 1991 if it is assumed that no
one found literate in 1991 lapsed into illiteracy by 2001, no one became
literate because of adult literacy programmes and there was no significant
impact of migration on literacy. The difference between the literacy rate of
the age group 15+ so estimated and that obtained by extrapolation can be
attributed to the impact of adult literacy programmes.
Table
6: Estimated literacy rate and number of literates in different age groups in
2001, assuming no impact of literacy programmes
Age-group
|
Literacy
Rate |
Estimated
population (millions)a
|
Estimated
no. of literates (millions) 2001 |
1991
|
2001
|
10-14 |
68.5
|
--
|
|
|
15-19 |
65.7
|
78.0
|
110.3
|
86.0
|
20-24 |
57.9
|
68.5
|
91.2
|
62.5
|
15-24 |
62.0
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
25-34 |
50.9
|
62.0
|
142.1
|
88.1
|
25+ |
42.5
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
35+ |
38.0
|
42.5
|
246.2
|
104.6
|
15+ |
48.2
|
57.85
|
589.8
|
341.2
|
a) Based on population projections made y
RGI for 2001
Since the estimated literacy rate for the age group 15+ in 2001 is
59.4, the number of literates in this age group should be 350.3 million out of
the total estimated population of 589.8 million in this age group. Thus only
350.3-341.2 = 9.1 million persons in the age group 15+ in 2001 are those who
apparently acquired literacy between 1991 and 2001, as they were not already
literate in 1991. Others were either already literate in 1991 or had acquired
literacy by attending formal schools and programmes of non-formal / alternative
schools. This provides rather a disturbing picture of the impact of adult
literacy programmes, since according to the 1998-99 report of the Directorate
of Adult Education, the number of persons made literate between 1988 and March
1999 is 79.5 million (59.4 million through TLC and 20.1 million through other
schemes).
Even if we assume that the literacy rate in the age group 15+ in
2001 is 61.4 (just 4.0 percentage points more than that of age group 7+), the
number of literates in the age group 15+ would be 362.1 million, which would
imply that 362.1-341.2=20.9 million persons in the age group 15+ in 2001 were
those who became literate as a result of adult literacy programmes between 1991
and 2001. It is again much less than the number of those who should have become
literate because of TLC and other literacy schemes. One possible reason for
such discrepancy is that some of the adults reported to be literate in 1991
were actually not literate enough to be excluded from the literacy imparting
programmes of TLC and the like. They were included among those covered in these
programmes.
6.Concluding remarks
While it is necessary to give all the importance that is at present
being given to Universalisation of Elementary Education through DPEP and Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan, it is also important to pay greater attention to the adult
literacy programmes for the vast population of non-literate adults. They
constitute about 40% of the total adult population (of age 15+), which means
population of 236 million non-literate adults. The target originally fixed for
adult literacy programmes was to make 100 million non-literate adults literate
by 1999; not only this target was not achieved, but the census data show that
the impact was much below the expected achievement. Let us hope that the
situation is not so bad as it appears at present, and the detailed data on
literacy by age as and when become available, will show a better impact of adult
literacy programmes.
So far as the literacy scenario of the different states is
concerned, the states with low literacy level have improved greatly over the
period 1991-2001, with the exception of Bihar and Jharkhand. Among the most populous states of India,
there are six, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, which account for 46% of the country's population. All these states
except Bihar have made tremendous progress in improving their literacy rate.
These hold the key to further progress in eradication of illiteracy in the
future. Apart from the programmes of National Literacy Mission for adults, the
Universalisation of Elementary Education through programmes like District
Programme Education Programme (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will play a key
role in achieving another significant rise in literacy rate during the current
decade. These educational programmes
aim at providing universal access, enrolment of all children in the age
group 6-13, reduction of dropout rate and improvement of quality of education.
With the financial resources and other inputs that are being provided to make
these programmes successful, we can certainly hope that the literacy rate will
increase to at least 75% or so by the year of 2011, that is, when the next
census takes place.
References:
1.
Census of India 2001: Provisional
Population Totals, Paper 1 of 2001, Series 1, 2001.
2.
Selected Educational Statistics,
1999-2000 Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2001.
3.
National Family Health Survey
(NFHS-2), 1998-99, International Institute of Population Sciences, 2000.
4.
NSS Report: Attending an Educational
Institution in India: Its level, nature and cost, NSS 52nd Round
(1995-96), 1998.
5.
Literacy Campaigns in India - National
Overview (status as in March 1999), National Literacy Mission, Directorate of
Adult Education, MHRD, 2000.