Literacy in India: the Gender and Age Dimension
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OCTOBER 2019 ISSUE NO. 322 Literacy in India: The Gender and Age Dimension TANUSHREE CHANDRA ABSTRACT This brief examines the literacy landscape in India between 1987 and 2017, focusing on the gender gap in four age cohorts: children, youth, working-age adults, and the elderly. It finds that the gender gap in literacy has shrunk substantially for children and youth, but the gap for older adults and the elderly has seen little improvement. A state-level analysis of the gap reveals the same trend for most Indian states. The brief offers recommendations such as launching adult literacy programmes linked with skill development and vocational training, offering incentives such as employment and micro-credit, and leveraging technology such as mobile-learning to bolster adult education, especially for females. It underlines the importance of community participation for the success of these initiatives. Attribution: Tanushree Chandra, “Literacy in India: The Gender and Age Dimension”, ORF Issue Brief No. 322, October 2019, Observer Research Foundation. Observer Research Foundation (ORF) is a public policy think tank that aims to influence the formulation of policies for building a strong and prosperous India. ORF pursues these goals by providing informed analyses and in-depth research, and organising events that serve as platforms for stimulating and productive discussions. ISBN 978-93-89622-04-1 © 2019 Observer Research Foundation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, archived, retained or transmitted through print, speech or electronic media without prior written approval from ORF. Literacy in India: The Gender and Age Dimension INTRODUCTION “neither in terms of absolute levels of literacy nor distributive justice, i.e., reduction in gender Literacy is one of the most essential indicators and caste disparities, does per capita income of the quality of a country’s human capital. have any statistically significant positive 1 a Latest data puts India’s adult literacy rate at bearing upon literacy status of states.” 73.2 percent. While the country has made Similarly, another study observes that the significant progress in improving literacy over importance of poverty as a cause of persistent the years, it continues to be home to 313 illiteracy and widening gender gap has been million illiterate people; 59 percent of them inflated.7 Meanwhile, the World Bank 2 are women. highlights that the gender gap is affected more by social and cultural factors and less by The high rates of illiteracy among Indian 8 absolute poverty. It recommends demand- women—and the corollary gender gap in linked measures to address the gender gap, literacy attainment—are attributable to many such as awareness campaigns, childcare centres, social, economic and cultural factors. Even as and the hiring of more female teachers. Similar the benefits of female education are policy prescriptions are echoed by the Draft public—including a more productive National Education Policy 2019 which workforce, lower fertility and lower infant recommends setting up a Gender-Inclusion mortality—the costs such as tuition fees and Fund to build the nation’s capacity to provide school supplies as well as opportunity costs of 9 quality and equitable education for all girls. forgone child labour, are privately borne by 3 households. This leads to underinvestment in Most official reports focus on studying the women’s schooling. 4 Accentuating the adult literacy rate which measures literacy disadvantage for women are the social among individuals aged 15 years and above. restrictions on their mobility that prevent an However, a focus on just adult literacy is likely educated woman from entering the labour to underestimate the progress India has made force and offering support to her household. in improving its literacy outcomes. The adult The educational gender gap, therefore, is not literacy rate for both males and females only a reflection of the low economic returns increases at a relatively sluggish rate since to female education but is also a symptom of most of the progress in literacy occurs through the entrenched biases that discourage the improvement in child and youth literacy.10 aspirations of women and other marginalised Therefore it is important to study the gender communities.5 gap in literacy for different age cohorts to get a clear understanding of the literacy landscape in Current literature is less clear about the the country and identify the key challenges correlation between household income and constraining a convergence between male and female education. One study of urban literacy female literacy. It is the primary aim of this and gender disparity across India,6 finds that brief. a The adult literacy rate, as defined by UNESCO, is the percentage of the population aged 15 years and over who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on his/her everyday life. 2 ORF ISSUE BRIEF No. 322 l OCTOBER 2019 Literacy in India: The Gender and Age Dimension Data shows that the gender gaps in To put these numbers in perspective, the education, occupation and wages have shrunk current gender-gap in literacy in India is more sharply between 1983 and 2010 in most than twice the 2016 global average and is also indicators; the gaps have narrowed most higher than the 2016 average for lower- sharply for the youngest cohorts in the middle-income countries. 1 3 There are workforce.11 However, these data are aggregate currently 186 million females in India who India-wide; given the variation in policies and cannot even read and write a simple sentence outcomes across states, it would be worthwhile in any language.14 These numbers are a to analyse disaggregated data to better identify reminder that India is still a long way from the causal channels at work.12 This brief meeting Goal 4 of the UN SDGs (Sustainable examines the gender gap in literacy in both Development Goals) of ensuring “inclusive national and state levels. It uses National and equitable quality education” and “lifelong Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data from learning opportunities for all” by 2030.15 rounds 43, 50, 55 and 64 of the Employment and Unemployment Survey, round 71 of the Gender Gap in Literacy by Age Social Consumption (Education) Survey and The literacy gender gap was studied for age the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2017-18). cohorts 15-24 years (youth), 25-64 years (working-age population) and 65 years and GENDER GAP IN LITERACY above (elderly) as per the standard age 16 Overall Gender Gap in Literacy brackets studied by UNESCO. In addition, a category for 6-14 years (children) was also About three decades ago, the adult male included since Indian laws establish free and literacy rate in India was almost twice that for compulsory education for this age group as a adult females. While this gap has narrowed fundamental right.17 substantially over the years, adult male literacy rate still surpasses the adult female Figure 2 shows male and female literacy literacy rate by 17 percentage points. (See rates as well as the gap between the two for Figure 1 and Table 1.) ch ildren, from 1987-88 to 2017-18. Literacy Figure 1: Trends in male and female literacy Table 1: Trends in male and female literacy 90 1987- 1993- 1999- 2007- 2017- 2014 80 Male 88 94 00 08 18 70 Literacy 60 Rate Male 50 Female Literacy 60.6 65.5 69.2 76.6 80.3 81.5 40 Literacy Rate 30 Rate 20 Female Gap 10 Literacy 31.6 37.9 43.8 54.9 61.8 64.6 0 Rate Gap 28.9 27.6 25.4 21.7 18.5 16.9 Year Source: National Sample Survey @ Observer Research Foundation’s India Data Labs ORF ISSUE BRIEF No. 322 l OCTOBER 2019 3 Literacy in India: The Gender and Age Dimension Figure 2 Figu re 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 100 6-14 Years 100 15-24 Years 100 25-64 Years 100 65 Years and 80 80 80 80 above 60 60 60 60 40 40 40 40 20 20 20 20 0 0 0 4 8 4 0 8 8 4 0 0 8 4 8 8 8 4 8 4 0 8 1 8 9 0 0 1 1 0 8 9 0 1 1 1 8 9 0 0 4 8 4 0 8 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 0 1 0 8 9 0 0 1 7 3 9 7 7 9 7 3 7 7 7 7 3 9 7 - - - - - 2 2 2 0 8 9 9 0 1 9 8 9 0 1 1 8 9 9 0 -20 7 3 9 7 7 2 9 9 9 0 0 9 9 9 0 0 8 9 9 0 1 0 9 9 9 0 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 9 9 9 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 Year Year Year Year Male Literacy rate Male Literacy rate Male Literacy rate Male Literacy rate Female Literacy Rate Female Literacy Rate Female Literacy Rate Female Literacy Rate Gap Gap Gap Source: National Sample Survey @ Observer Research Foundation’s India Data Labs rates for children are the highest in the compared to the patterns for children and country across all age groups. The same figure youth. also shows that the literacy gender gap in children has been successfully closed, possibly KEY FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS reflecting a change in attitudes and 18 1. India in 2017 is far more literate than mindsets. This can be attributed to the India in 1987. spirited literacy efforts by government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to India has successfully broken out of the “low 19 get more girls, in particular, to attend school.