Elementary education not for all in Punjab

Despite making strides in the economic front, Punjab lags behind in the field of universal elementary education.

"The state has an all India rank of ten on the literacy scale among the states. If we also consider the Union Territorie, Punjab slips down six places further," according to the Registrar General of India.

Out of a total population of 24,289,296 in the state (census 2001), 14,853,810 are literate. The overall literacy rate is slightly higher than the national average of 65.38 per cent.

However, in spite of a relatively high rate of literacy, there are 63.8 lakh illiterates in Punjab, the census of India points out.

Hoshiarpur district has the highest literacy figures of 81.40 per cent, while the Mansa district has the lowest figure of 52.50 per cent.

While education levels on a comparative basis are "high" for the Doaba region (Hoshiarpur, Nawanshehar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and parts of Gurdaspur), they are "moderate" for the Majha region (Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts) and "low" for the Malwa region (Ludhiana, Ropar, Bathinda, Faridkot and other districts), a human development report for Punjab notes.

Clear regional divides are observed on literacy rates in three regions of the state except Ropar, Ludhiana and Fatehgarh sahib, all districts are far below the state average, the census data reveals.

The human development report for the state ascribe to regional differences on literacy rates, owing to an overwhelming existence of larger land holdings in the Malwa region, with agriculture being the primary occupation.

"Women's education is neglected, a tendency compounded by the fact that communities in Malwa tend to be male-dominated, patriarchial and feudal," educationists observes.

However, in the Doaba region, education assumes greater importance owing to a high incidence of out-migration, they feel.

12 out of 17 districts of Punjab have rural female literacy rates that are less than 66 per cent. Correspondingly, only Mansa (64.14 per cent), Muktsar (65.40 per cent) and Sangrur (63.76 per cent) have less than 66 per cent urban female literacy rate.

The female enrolment rates are higher for Punjab as a whole than the male enrolment rates. The male enrolment rate for the state in the year 1999 was 66.95 per cent, while it was 68.07 per cent for females, according to the data available with the Directorate of Public Instructions (DPI- schools).

The school drop out rate fall "more steeply' for females than for males from primary to the secondary level.

For males the primary level drop out rate was 24.12 per cent (census 2001) while for females it was 19.99 per cent, according to the data with DPI.

At the secondary level too, the drop out rates show a similar trend, which is 21.43 per cent for boys and 14.22 per cent for girls.

At the primary level the drop out rate was recorded at 22.17 per cent, while at the secondary level it was 18.24 per cent.