I don't know how many times in a day I encounter the phrase about "Kerala's 100% literacy rate" - Malayalis on Facebook, Twitter and blogs constantly throw this around, especially when the topic is on how 'uneducated' we are or how 'unbecoming' our actions are.
As far as I understand,
Kerala achieved 100% literacy in 1991 - that was a long time ago. The numbers slipped over the years, the people forgot what they learned because they never used it since, new generations did not (or were unable to) show interest in learning, and many children continue to drop out of schools or fail to make their appearance at all.
But, yes, Kerala still holds the highest literacy rate in India (94.59%).
As far as I understand,
Kerala achieved 100% literacy in 1991 - that was a long time ago. The numbers slipped over the years, the people forgot what they learned because they never used it since, new generations did not (or were unable to) show interest in learning, and many children continue to drop out of schools or fail to make their appearance at all.
But, yes, Kerala still holds the highest literacy rate in India (94.59%).
hmmm.. interesting fact.. I don't how they actually caluclate that... will search somewhere..
ReplyDelete94.59% is still high...i donno if just being able to write your name counts as literacy...but that's still gr8...
ReplyDeleteKerala never achieved exactly 100%. It is only a figurative statement. At that time more than 90 was taken to be full literacy, Total literacy is a better term which captures the fact. Pls see this link
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indiatogether.org/interviews/iview-mpp.htm
Hari
@hakucomet: Thanks for sharing this informative link.
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ReplyDelete