Indian literacy level below world average of 84%: Pranab Mukherjee
Updated: Sep 08, 2014 04:35:36pm
New Delhi, Sept 8 (KNN) The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has said that the literacy level of the country at about 74 per cent more than 67 years after independence, is well below the world average of 84 per cent.
Speaking at an event observing World Literacy Day here today, “The literacy rate has increased by four times from 18 per cent in 1951 to about 74 per cent in 2011. Despite this, our literacy level is below the world average of 84 per cent,” the President said, adding that a target of 80 per cent has been set for achievement by the end of the 12th Plan.
He said that they also aimed to reduce the gender gap from 16 to 10 percentage points.
“Gender disparity in literacy is another important challenge. As we have been told, male and female literacy rates are 80.89 and 64.64 percent respectively. We need to do much better. Government of India rightly considers female literacy as a force multiplier for its social development programmes. In this context, I was glad to note that the National Literacy Mission has enhanced its focus on female literacy.
“If the Mission enables the Indian woman to take charge of her life and health and feel more confident in her immediate physical and social environment; if literacy helps her to overcome deprivation, discrimination and injustice, then we can say that an important objective has been achieved,” he said.
The objective, according to him should be to bring the literacy rate not only at par with the world average but to the levels attained by the leading societies of the world.
With regard to adult literacy, the progress, he said has been uneven and wide disparities are still seen.
“While States like Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram have done reasonably well, many other States are lagging behind. The Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Minorities and other disadvantaged groups, which constitute a sizeable part of our population, have very much lower rates of literacy. There is, thus, an urgent need to focus attention on these groups to help them to catch up so that we can move faster towards the national targets,” he said.
Total literacy in India will ultimately depend on two factors, the President said. One is meaningful and effective advocacy and, secondly, cooperation and support of society at large, to bring non-literates into the mainstream of literacy.
He called upon State Governments, Panchayati Raj Institutions on one hand and on the other, appealed to all the stakeholders in a resurgent India – the corporate and private sectors, voluntary agencies and civil society organisations - to work together to realise the goal of total literacy. (KNN/ES)
Speaking at an event observing World Literacy Day here today, “The literacy rate has increased by four times from 18 per cent in 1951 to about 74 per cent in 2011. Despite this, our literacy level is below the world average of 84 per cent,” the President said, adding that a target of 80 per cent has been set for achievement by the end of the 12th Plan.
He said that they also aimed to reduce the gender gap from 16 to 10 percentage points.
“Gender disparity in literacy is another important challenge. As we have been told, male and female literacy rates are 80.89 and 64.64 percent respectively. We need to do much better. Government of India rightly considers female literacy as a force multiplier for its social development programmes. In this context, I was glad to note that the National Literacy Mission has enhanced its focus on female literacy.
“If the Mission enables the Indian woman to take charge of her life and health and feel more confident in her immediate physical and social environment; if literacy helps her to overcome deprivation, discrimination and injustice, then we can say that an important objective has been achieved,” he said.
The objective, according to him should be to bring the literacy rate not only at par with the world average but to the levels attained by the leading societies of the world.
With regard to adult literacy, the progress, he said has been uneven and wide disparities are still seen.
“While States like Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram have done reasonably well, many other States are lagging behind. The Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Minorities and other disadvantaged groups, which constitute a sizeable part of our population, have very much lower rates of literacy. There is, thus, an urgent need to focus attention on these groups to help them to catch up so that we can move faster towards the national targets,” he said.
Total literacy in India will ultimately depend on two factors, the President said. One is meaningful and effective advocacy and, secondly, cooperation and support of society at large, to bring non-literates into the mainstream of literacy.
He called upon State Governments, Panchayati Raj Institutions on one hand and on the other, appealed to all the stakeholders in a resurgent India – the corporate and private sectors, voluntary agencies and civil society organisations - to work together to realise the goal of total literacy. (KNN/ES)
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