Bihar, Rajasthan and WB lag on literacy front

New Delhi, Dec 24: Illiteracy has been literally wiped out from households in Kerala while Bihar and Rajasthan reported the lowest literacy rates of 44 and 64 per cent among rural and urban areas respectively, says an NSS report.

Kerala topped among the states with the highest literacy rates in both rural and urban areas, only three per cent in rural areas and one per cent in urban areas were still untutored, a survey of literacy rates conducted among households having members of 15 years and above found.

India's literacy rate was put at 64 per cent during 2004-05.

While the literacy rate in rural areas was 55 per cent, it was 75 per cent in urban areas, according to the report on "Status of Education and Vocational Training in India, 2004-05" brought out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Among the major states, the proportion of households with no literate among the members of age 15 years and above was found to be the lowest in Kerala (three per cent) and the highest in Bihar (38 per cent) in the rural areas.

In the urban areas, households in Rajasthan lagged behind reporting the highest levels of illiteracy at 16 per cent, followed closely by Bihar (15 per cent) and surprisingly, West Bengal (14 per cent).

The proportion of non-literates was found to be the highest in the bottom monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) class and it decreased gradually as the MPCE increased.

Conversely, the proportion of the educated (that is, those with level of general education secondary and above including diploma/certificate course) was found to be the lowest in the bottom MPCE class in the urban areas and the same was the case in the two bottom MPCE classes in the rural areas.

The gender bias and urban-rural divide also showed up in the statistics released. While about 64 per cent of rural men and 45 per cent of rural women were literate, the literacy rates among their urban counterparts were much higher at 81 per cent and 69 per cent respectively.

In about 26 per cent of the rural households and about eight per cent of the urban households, not a single member of age 15 years or above could read and write a simple message with understanding.

About 50 per cent of the rural households and about 20 per cent of the urban had no literate among the women members of 15 years of age and above.

The survey was spread over 7,999 villages and 4,602 urban blocks covering 79,306 rural households and 45,374 urban households covering all states and union territories.

UNI