NSSO data reveal literacy rate up from 64.5% to 69.1%

The literacy rate in India improved considerably to 69.1 per cent in January-June 2014, compared to 64.5 per cent some six years back, showed data released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

The data also showed the government lagged far behind those of private entities in education and health. However, it should be noted that the previous survey was carried out for a full year from July 2007-June 2008.

The literacy rate improved in both rural and urban areas , from 60 per cent to 64.7 per cent in the former and 77.1 per cent to 79.5 per cent in the latter between 2007 and 2008 and in the first six months of 2014.

A QUICK STUDY

• The literacy rate improved in both rural and urban areas — from 60 per cent to 64.7 per cent in the former and 77.1 per cent to 79.5 per cent in the latter between 2007 and 2008 and the first six months of 2014
• Besides, both female and male literacy rate showed improvement — from 56.3 per cent to 62 per cent in the former and from 72.1 per cent to 75.7 per cent in the latter

ABLING THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED

• In absolute terms, there are 4.7 million more people as differently abled, compared to 21.9 million in 2001
• However, the proportion of differently abled persons to total population remained more or less same in the decade. They represented 2.1 per cent of the total population in 2001

Besides, both female and male literacy rates showed improvement, from 56.3 per cent to 62 per cent in the former and from 72.1 per cent to 75.7 per cent in the latter.

The data is not of Census but of a small sample consisting of 4,577 villages and 3,720 urban blocks across the country.

There was an improvement in all age groups as well. The rate was up from 71.8 per cent to 76 per cent in five years of age and above. In age group of seven years and above, there were 75.4 per cent literate people now compared to 71.7 per cent then.

The literacy rate was 70.5 per cent of those aged 15 years and above, against 66 per cent.

Among the states, the lowest literacy was recorded in Andhra Pradesh - 66.8 per cent and highest in Mizoram - 96.2 per cent. In education, rural students increasingly switched to private institutions although a significant percentage still went to government ones. In urban areas, the figure was even more dismal.

In rural areas, 64 per cent of students at higher secondary level attended government institutions, while it was 38 per cent in urban areas during January-June, 2014.

It primarily assessed a range of socio-economic indicators viz., participation of people in educational process, extent of use of educational infrastructure, facilities and private expenditure incurred by households on education, etc.

It's seen that a wide gap still persists as far as educational infrastructure and attitudes to education are considered in urban and rural areas while the literacy rate stood at 75 per cent.

Adult literacy or the percentage of people aged 15 years or more who have basic literacy skills was around 71 per cent. It was considerably lower in rural areas - 64 per cent as compared to urban areas - 84 per cent. This is a direct result of, among other factors, accessibility to educational facilities.

While there was no significant difference between rural and urban India in terms of distance for physical access to primary schooling, nearly 60 per cent of rural households and 91 per cent of urban households reported secondary schools at such a distance. Subsequently, the proportion of persons having completed graduation and above, was 17 per cent of males and 13 per cent of females in urban areas while it was nearly 4.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively in rural areas.

Interestingly, figures for school attendance were relatively similar in urban and rural areas. While in rural areas 58.7 per cent of males and 53 per cent of females were currently attending educational institutions, in urban areas the corresponding figures were 57 per cent and 54.6 per cent.

The Modi government has been consistently pushing for technical education aimed at raising skilled workforce. Data suggested that a lot more efforts need to be made in the direction with around 85 per cent of students in age-group of 15-29 years pursuing general education. Nearly 12.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent of students were attending technical/professional and vocational courses respectively.

On health, NSSO report pointed out that, private doctors were the single most important source of treatment in both rural and urban areas. More than 70 per cent of people in both areas were treated in the private sector which consisted of private doctors, nursing homes, private hospitals, charitable institutions, etc. But this preference for private hospitals comes at a higher cost. The average medical expenditure per hospitalisation was Rs 25,850 in the case of private hospitals as opposed to Rs 6,120 in public hospitals.

Despite the steady expansion in health care facilities, around 20 per cent of the childbirths in rural areas continue to be at home or at places other than hospitals. In urban areas though, it was lower at 10.5 per cent. Among institutional childbirth, 55.5 per cent took place in public hospitals and 24 per cent in private hospital in rural area. In urban area, however, the corresponding figures were 42 per cent and 47.5 per cent respectively.

Data gathered in the survey shows a marked preference for allopathy treatment. Only 5 to 7 percent reported using other treatments such as AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga or naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy).

It is a matter of concern that 86 per cent of rural population and 82 per cent of urban population is still not covered under any scheme of health expenditure support. Only 12 per cent urban and 13 per cent rural population is covered under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) or similar schemes.