Illiteracy and disparity in education

A social problem is a condition or set of events that some people in society view as
being undesirable. Social problem according to---
REINHARDT can be defined as: “A situation confronting a group or a section of
society which inflicts injurious consequences that can be handled only collectively”.
CASE can be defined as: “a social problem refers to any kind of situation which
attracts the attention of a considerable number of competent observers within a society
and appeals to them as calling for readjustment or remedy by social(that is, collective)
action of some kind or other ”.
Social problem change with the passage of time. For example, earlier climate change or
population explosion wasn’t a social problem but as of now these two are serious
social problems.
Some of the main characteristics of social problems are:
All social problems are deviation from the ‘ideal’ situation.
All social problems are interconnected.
All social problems are social in nature, that is, they affect all sections of society.
All social problems occur in all societies.
All social problems are social in origin.

THE MAIN CAUSES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS, ACCORDING TO REINHARDT ARE:
Differentiation and multiplication of interests and functions.
Accelerating frequency of social change or growth of civilization.
Man’s developed insight to make a scientific analysis.
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS ARE:
Social disorganization approach
Cultural lag approach
Value conflict approach
Personal deviation approach
Anomie approach
TYPES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS CAN BE:
Economic{in the form of poverty, unemployment, etc.}
Cultural{in the form of divorce, etc.}
Biological{in the form of infectious diseases, etc.}
Psychological{in the form of neurological disease, etc.}
METHODS OF STUDYING SOCIAL PROBLEMS ARE:
Case study method.
Social survey method.
Multiple factor method.

Literacy is the ability to read , write , and use numeracy in at
least one method of writing. Hence ILLITERACY can be defined
as the inability to read , write , or the actual or perceived state of
being uneducated or insufficiently educated. Social judgement is
so powerfully built into the term ILLITERATE that scholars now
generally use more neutral terms , such as NON-LITERATE(for
societies and individuals for who literacy is not a relevant issue)
and PRE-LITERATE(for societies and conditions before literacy
emerged or was encountered and adopted).
Illiteracy effects an individual in all areas of their life. It is deep
rooted problem which despite huge investments , government
policies etc. remains a long way from being solved.

THERE CAN BE VARIOUS DEFINITIONS OF ILLITERACY , SOME OF
THEM ARE-
1.UNESCO: According to UNESCO, A literate person is the “one who can
with understanding both read and write a short simple statement on his
every day life and hence illiterate person is the one who can not read or
write”.
2.EDWARD GIBBON: The inability to read or write or the actual or
perceived state of being uneducated or insufficiently educated.
3.ANNE MARIE TRAMMELL: Illiteracy is a quality or condition of being
unable to read or write.

Literacy rate of India is 77.7%. Kerala tops the list of most
literate state with rate of 96.2%, while Andhra Pradesh is at the
bottom with 66.4%.
India is home to the largest population of 287 million illiterate
adults in the world. This amounts to 37% of the global total.
47.78% out of school children in India are girls.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh are amongst the bottom
five states in the terms of illiteracy.
India’s literacy rate has increased six times since independence.
Literacy rate has increased from 12% in 2001 to 74% in 2011 yet
India has the world’s largest population of illiterate adults.
60,00,000 children in India are still out-of-school. 92% of
government schools are yet to fully implement the RTE act.
India is ranked at 123 out of 135 countries in female literacy
rate.

The percentage of women to the total number of school teachers
has gone up from 29.3% in 1991 to 47.16% in 2013-14.
There has been significant progress in the field of education
since the 1950s. According to the MINISTRY OF HUMAN
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, there
has been a marked increase in the number of schools. For example,
as on 30 September 2010, the numbers different categories of
schools were as under: pre-primary: 68,413; primary: 7,48,547;
upper primary: 4,47,600; secondary: 1,28,370; and senior
secondary: 71,814.
The increase has also been observed in the literacy rates of
males and females during 2001-2011 and they are 6.88% for males
and 11.79% for females.
 The literacy rates in India in different years was found as: 1951:
18.33%, 1961: 28.30%, 1971: 34.45%, 1981: 43.57%, 1991: 52.21%,
2001: 64.83%, 2011: 74.04%.

According to the provisional totals of 2011 Census, 26% people of India or a total of
27,29,50,015 persons are illiterate. In 2001, 35% people were illiterate. Thus, the absolute
number of illiterates decreased during the last decade. The maximum contribution in
this is made by two states namely: UTTAR PRADESH, followed by BIHAR. The other
states showing sizeable decrease in the number of illiterates are: WEST
BENGAL(9.44%), GUJARAT(7.60%), MAHARASHTRA(7.15%), KARNATAKA(6.37%),
TAMIL NADU(5.82%), ODISHA(5.80%), ANDHRA PRADESH(4.87%), and
JHARKHAND(3.96%). The states where number of illiterates has increased are
RAJASTHAN(3.18%), CHHATTISGARH(0.81%), and MADHYA PRADESH(0.80%).
In terms of all India ranking in literacy rates, according to provisional totals of 2011
census, KERALA(93.91%), enjoys 1st position, followed by LAKSHADWEEP(2.28%),
MIZORAM(91.58%), TRIPURA(87.75%), GOA(87.40%), DAMAN AND DIU(87.07%),
PUDUCHERRY(86.55%), CHANDIGARH(86.43%), DELHI(86.34%), ANDAMAN AND
NICOBAR(86.27%), HIMACHAL PRADESH(83.78%), MAHARSHTRA(82.91%),
SIKKIM(82.20%).

If the percentage of illiterates in India is compared with those in other
countries, our country appears to be much behind.
The problem of illiteracy among women in our country is worse though sex
differentials have narrowed down significantly over the years. As mentioned
earlier, though the absolute number of female illiterates has gone down
during 2001-2011 but it is still high in comparison to other countries.
In 2011 census the decadal difference in literacy rates for males and females
stands at 6.88% and 11.79% respectively.
The position of children in terms of illiteracy is equal bad. Despite a major
improvement in overall literacy rates, the number of children who are not in
school is still high. The literacy rate jumped from 52% in 1991 to 65% in 2001.
The absolute number of non-literates dropped for the first time and gross
enrolment in government run primary schools increased from over 19 million
in the 1950s to 114 million by 2001. in spite of all this, 20% of children aged 6
to 14 are still not in schools.

FUNCTIONAL ILLITERACY consists of reading and writing skills that are
inadequate “to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading
skills beyond a basic level”. Functional illiteracy is contrasted with illiteracy
in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write simple sentences in
any language. People who can read and write only in a language other than the
predominant language of where they live may also be considered functionally
illiterate.
Functional illiteracy according to UNESCO, 1978 can be defined as: a person is
functionally illiterate who cannot engage in all those activities in which
literacy is required for effective functioning of his community and also for
enabling him to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own
and the community’s development.

The main causes of illiteracy are :
High rate of population growth in relation to low rate of adult population gaining
literacy. Overpopulation also causes illiteracy as overcrowded classes, too few trained
teachers, and insufficient resources.
Ineffectiveness of primary schools in enrolling and retaining students.
Traditional outlook of low class people in using the services of young children either
for earning money or looking after infants in family instead of sending them to schools.
High level of poverty.
Non-conducive educational policies of the colonial rulers to the spread of education.
Low allotment of funds for education.
Societal norms also cause illiteracy as, 48% of girls get married and leave school
before the age of 18 years.
In Indian context, the two major causes of illiteracy are paucity of schools as well as
teachers. According to the report of the 8th all India education survey, released by
NCERT, the ratio of student to teacher in the country is 1:32 across primary, upper
primary, and secondary levels.
In addition, there is also poor sanitation in schools with no washrooms and drinking
water facilities.

The national policy on education(NPE) is a policy formulated by
the government of India to promote education amongst India’s
people. The first NPE was promoted by Prime Minister INDIRA
GANDHI in 1968. It was modified by Prime Minister RAJIV
GANDHI in the year 1986 and then modified by the current Prime
Minister NARENDRA MODI in the year 2020.
The first NPE focused on fulfilling compulsory education for all
the children up to the age of 14 years. The policy also focused on
the learning of regional languages, outlining the “ three language
formula” to be implemented in secondary education.
The next NPE focused on “special emphasis on the removal of
disparities and to equalise educational opportunity, especially
for women, SCs, STs”.

The 1986 NPE was modified in the year 1992 by the P.V. NARSIMHA RAO
government. This modification focused on the conduct of a common entrance
examination on all India basis for admission to professional and technical
programmes in the country. Example- CAT for MBA, NEET for MBBS, etc.
The NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY then was modified in the year 2020.
The policy raises the importance of mother tongue. The policy focuses on
reducing curriculum content to enhance essential learning, critical thinking
and more holistic experiential discussion based and analysis based learning.
Now, the “10+2” structure will be replaced with ”5+3+3+4” model, which
means 5 years include 3 years of preschool and class 1st and 2nd, followed by
plus 3 that includes class 3rd to class 5th, followed by plus 3 that includes class
6th to class 8th, followed by plus 4 that includes class 9th to class 12th.

In 1950, India made a constitutional commitment to provide free and
compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14, by adding this
provision in article 45 of the Directives Principles of the state policy. With the
constitution (86th) Amendment act on 12th December 2001, Article 21A was
amended in order to introduce RIGHT TO EDUCATION as a fundamental
right. This right finally came into force on 1st April 2010.
The main provisions of the act are as follows:
Every child between the ages of six to fourteen years shall have the right to
free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school.
No child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges which may prevent
him/her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
The appropriate government and local authority shall establish a school, if it
is not established, within the given area in a period of 3 years from the
commencement of the act, the central government will take actions.
As per the provision of the act, the central government has authorised the
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING
(NCERT) as the academic authority to lay down the curriculum and develop a
framework of national curriculum.

The NAEP was launched on October 2, 1978 with the aim of providing
education and promoting literacy among all illiterate persons, particularly in
the age group of 15-35 years. The programme is a joint and collaborative
efforts of the central government, state governments, union territory
administrations, voluntary agencies, universities, colleges, and youth centres.
The education under the NAE programme is a package which envisages:
Imparting literacy skills to the target illiterate population.
Their functional development.
Creation of awareness among them regarding laws and policies of the
government for the efficient implementation of the strategy of redistributive
justice.
Special emphasis is being placed on the education of women, SCs/STs and other
weaker sections of society, who comprises the bulk of illiterate population of
India.

The RFLP is a sub-programme of the NAEP which is fully funded
by the central government and implemented by the states and
union territories. The broad objectives of this programme are:
To develop abilities in the learners to read and write.
To create awareness among the learners about their duties and
rights and the benefits they can draw from various schemes of
socio-economic development being implemented by the
government.
The RFLP was launched in May 1986 by involving the NSS and
other student volunteers in colleges and universities on the
principle of “EACH ONE, TEACH ONE”. Starting on a modest
scale of 2,00,000 volunteers, it went up to 4,50,000 in 1990
covering over 4,20,000 learners.

The consequences of low literacy are many. It negatively affects individuals in
their daily lives and can jeopardize their future. The issue also has a
significant effect on society, both socially and economically.
FOR INDIVIDUALS
Limited ability to obtain and understand essential information.
Unemployment: the unemployment rate is 2-4 times higher among those with
little schooling than among those with bachelor’s degrees.
Low-literate adults who are employed often turn down promotions or
advancement opportunities because they fear the paperwork that will be
required.
Lower-income and lower quality jobs.
Little value is given to education and reading within the family, and this
often leads to intergenerational transmission of low literacy.

Low self- esteem, which can lead to isolation.
Uncertain financial position.
FOR SOCIETY
Since literacy is an essential tool for individuals
and states to be competitive in the new global
knowledge economy, many positions remain vacant
for lack of personnel adequately trained to hold them.
The higher the proportion of adults with low
literacy proficiency is, the slower the overall long-
term GDP growth rate will be.
The difficulty in understanding societal issues
lowers the level of community involvement and civic
participation.

Every person – child, youth, and adult shall be able to benefit from educational
opportunities designed to meet the basic learning needs. When a person learns
to read, there is definite development that goes from development of a certain
self-concept to the development of a better vocabulary and a movement
towards ideas and communication. These ideas can affect community through
the more literate members, and help to teach how individuals can be good
parents, how to foster the nutritional strength of one’s family, how to deal
with the environment, how to deal with modern technology, etc. Eventually
these empower the entire society.
Literacy programmes are indispensable because literacy is a necessary skill in
itself and the foundation of other life skills.
Literacy in the mother tongue strengthens cultural identity and heritage.
Other needs can also be served like: skills training, apprenticeships, and formal
and non-formal education programmes in health, nutrition, population,
agricultural techniques, the environment, science, technology, family life,
including fertility awareness, and other societal issues.

National Literacy Mission(NLM) was launched on May 5, 1988 as a
technology mission to impart functional literacy to non-literates in the
country in the age group of 15-35 years in a time bound manner. The national
education policy, 1986, as modified in 1992, also has recognized NATIONAL
LITERACY MISSION (NLM) as one of the three instruments to eradicate
illiteracy from the country, the other two being UNIVERSALIZATION OF
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (UEE) and NON-FORMAL EDUCATION. The
mission’s objective was to impart functional literacy to 80 million illiterate
persons in 15-35 age group--- 30 million by 1990 and additional 50 million by
1995. However, later on, the goal of the mission became to attain a sustainable
threshold literacy rate of 75% by 2007.
The major thrust of these programmes is on the promotion of literacy among
women, SCs/STs and other backward classes.
The NLM eventually aims at ensuring that the TOTAL LITERACY
CAMPAIGN(TLC) and their sequel, the POST LITERACY
PROGRAMME(PLP), successfully move on to continuing education, which
provides a life long learning and is responsible for the creation of a learning
society.

Eradication of illiteracy has been one of major national concerns of the
government.
In recent areas various initiatives have been taken by government to eradicate
illiteracy. Some of them are:
•ELEMENTARY EDUCATION- The central and state governments have been
expanding the provision of formal and non-formal primary education to realize
the goal of UNIVERSALIZATION OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION(UEE).
It also includes some schemes such as SARV SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN(SSA),
MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME so that children don’t have any kind of problem in
receiving education.
•SECONDARY EDUCATION- It starts from class 9th and this is a crucial stage
that develops competency in children, which prepares them for higher
education and for professional life.
Some schemes under this are: RASHTRIYA MADHYAMIK SHIKSHA
ABHIYAN(RMSA), GIRLS HOSTEL SCHEME, MODEL SCHOOL SCHEME,
etc.

•HIGHER EDUCATION- It starts after class 12th . Major policy
decisions relating to higher education in the country are taken by
the central government. It provides grants to UNIVERSITY
GRANT COMMISIION(UGC) and establishes central
universities in the country.
•ADULT EDUCATION- Literacy among adults has been
recognized as a crucial input for nation building. The NATIONAL
LITERACY MISSION(NLM) was set up in May 1988 to impart a
new sense of urgency and seriousness to adult education. Some of
the other initiative under adult education are: SAAKSHAR
BHARAT, INNOVATIVE PROPOSAL IN THE FIELD OF ADULT
EDUCATION, SCHEME OF SUPPORT TO VOLUNTARY
AGENCIES FOR ADULT EDUCATION AND SKILL
DEVELOPMENT, CREATION OF DIRECTORATE OF ADULT
EDUCATION.

Disparity in education or educational inequality is the unequal distribution of
academic resources, including but not limited to; school funding, qualified and
experienced teachers, books, and technologies to socially excluded
communities. Individuals belonging to these marginalized groups are also
denied access to the schools with abundant resources. Inequality leads to
major differences in the educational success.
In addition to academic performance, attainment of learning objectives,
acquisition of desired skills and competencies, satisfaction, persistence, and
post-college performance should all be measured and accounted for when
determining the educational success of individuals.
There can be various reasons of educational inequality such as family of origin,
gender, and social class, achievement, earnings, health status, and political
contribution.

It can be concluded that:
 A social problem is a situation confronting a group or a section of society
which inflicts injurious consequences that can be handled only collectively.
 Illiteracy is one of the major social problems. Illiteracy can be defined as
“the inability to read, write or understand any language”.
 Literacy rate of India is 77.7%. Kerala tops the list of most literate state
with rate of 96.2%, while Andhra Pradesh is at the bottom with 66.4%.
 FUNCTIONAL ILLITERACY consists of reading and writing skills that are
inadequate “to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading
skills beyond a basic level”.
Some of the main causes of illiteracy can be : poverty, gender inequality,
overpopulation, etc.
 National education policy is one of the governmental policy to eradicate
illiteracy.

The right to education is the right which recognizes a right to free and
compulsory education for all.
The NAEP was launched on October 2, 1978 with the aim of providing
education and promoting literacy among all illiterate persons,
particularly in the age group of 15-35 years.
The RFLP is a sub-programme of the NAEP which is fully funded by the
central government and focuses at “EACH ONE, TEACH ONE”.
 There can be many consequences for not being educated for both
individual as well as society.
National Literacy Mission(NLM) was launched on May 5, 1988 as a
technology mission to impart functional literacy to non-literates.
 For eradicating illiteracy various measure have been taken such as the
introduction of ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, SECONDARY
EDUCATION, HIGHER EDUCATION, and ADULT EDUCATION that
includes various other schemes.
The educational disparity can be defined as educational inequality
because of several reasons such as gender, class, achievement, etc.
BEING LITERATE IS A BOON FOR BOTH: A PERSON AS WELL AS
COUNTRY. SO WHENEVER YOU GET A CHANCE PLEASE EDUCATE
SOMEONE.

Illiteracy and disparity in education

Illiteracy and disparity in education

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