Why Kerala has high Literacy Rate ?

In 1991, Kerala was the first state in India to be recognized as a complete literate state, though the effective literacy rate at that time was only 90%. As of 2007 the net enrolment in elementary education was almost 100% and was almost balanced among sexes, social groups and regions unlike other states in India.

• The roots of Kerala’s literacy can be traced back at least to the Hindu rulers of the 19^th century.
• The Queen of Trivandrum issued a royal decree in 1817 that said “ The state should defray the entire cost of the education of its people in order that there might be no backwardness in the spread of enlightenment. She hoped education will make her people better subjects and public servants.
• The king of cochin also built public schools and promoted elementary education.
• The village started by Christian missionaries paved the way for an educational revolution.
• Nairs, Ezhavas & Harijan communities were guided by Sree Narayana Guru, Sree Chatambi Swamigal & Ayyankali who encouraged all these communities to start their school.
• Kerala has Matriarchial society from its olden days, this enabled women to stand alongside the male member of their family & received an education while it’s not same in other parts of the country and in other parts of society women’s are not allowed to work or they are left for households.

“Education in Kerala represents a success story that many nations might wish to emulate”

• In the early 20^th century, social reformers in the region continued the drive for education for the lower castes and for girls. All this gave Kerala a head start and by 1961 the state had double the literacy rate of the rest of India i.e 55% compared with the Indian average of 28%.
• On 4^th Feb 1990 Indian prime minister marked the start of world literacy year with a trip to Ernakulam
• As per 2007, the net enrolment in elementary education was almost 100% and was almost balanced among sexes, social groups and regions unlike other states in India.
• According to the 1^st economic census conducted in 1977, 99.7% of the villages in Kerala had a primary school within 2 kilometers and 96.7% had a high school within 5 kilometers.
• According to census 2011, Kerala has 93.91% literacy compared to the national literacy of 74.04%
• In January 2016, Kerala becomes the first state to achieve 100% primary education through its literacy program.
• The Kerala govt. has also focused on adult education, spending $7.4 million to open 3,500 adult continuing education centers b/w 1998 – 2003.
• As per the Athulyam scheme, the literacy mission has identified people who have not completed their primary education. They have been given5-month training, enabling them to attend the fourth equivalency test.

So these things changed the scenario of Kerala and marked it as the state with the highest literacy.

“Without literacy you cannot go forward”

Though Kerala is mostly a land of paddy-covered plains statistically, Kerala stands as the Mount Everest of social development. There’s no place like it.

Despite its achievement, the model is heavily criticized for a very low industrial development in state & high level of unemployment.

SOURCE:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0517/p12s01-legn.html

Kailasha Foundation - Bringing Solutions To You