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The gap between rural and urban India in education has narrowed notably in the decade leading up to 2011, according to the recently-released Census figures. The Census shows that in 2011, 26.46 per cent of the total urban population was attending classes compared to 25.76 per cent in non-urban areas. The resulting gap of 0.7 percentage points was much lower than 4.59 - the corresponding figure in 2001.
The Census figures, which enumerate the population attending various educational institutions across the country based on age, location and gender, reveal that much a higher number of population go to these institutions in rural areas. This takes into account various educational institutions - schools, colleges, vocational training facilities, and literacy centres, among others.
While rural India is home to around 830 million people, about 370 million reside in towns and cities. In absolute numbers, both areas saw a roughly similar increase in population, at 90 million. But while the decadal percentage growth in population attending educational institutions in urban areas was 0.91 per cent, it was five times in rural areas at 4.8 per cent.
A gender-wise break-up also suggests the same. The percentage point increase in rural males and females heading towards classrooms are much higher than their urban counterparts. While the increase in rural areas was 3.81 percentage points among males and 5.83 percentage points among females, in urban areas, the growth fell to 1.02 per cent points among males and 0.81 points among females.
Notably, the growth in educational attendance is the least among urban women. Such recurring trends suggest socio-economic factors are at play in rural areas - such as sustained increase in educational facilities and changing attitudes towards education.
The ripple effects of sustained campaigns for girls' education may also be paying off. The exponential growth in the percentage of women attending educational institutions seems to suggest this. However, the same doesn't hold true for urban India. The data hints at growing challenges in educating India's burgeoning urban population, fuelled by large scale economic migration.
However, when tallied, the growth in college or equivalent levels of education showed a larger increase in urban areas at 2.15 percentage points compared with 1.36 points in rural areas.
This suggests a significant reduction in the number of people who drop out of the educational process in lower levels, particularly in villages. India had 3.24 per cent of total population studying at college or equivalent level of education in 2011, up from 1.56 per cent a decade ago. In India 3.79 per cent of males and 2.67 per cent of females are studying at college or equivalent level, as of 2011.
