CHENNAI:The latest census data on education shows that two out of every five dalits (40 per cent) in the age group 30-60 in Tamil Nadu never went to school. This is worse compared to the overall State population, where only 26 per cent in the same age group never went to school.
Compared to the corresponding figures for the entire country, the figures are better. Across India, almost every second Dalit (48.37 per cent) in the age group of 30-60 has never attended any educational institution.
The urban-rural divide is stark in Tamil Nadu and the country. Thirty per cent of the State’s rural population has never attended school or college, while the corresponding figure for the urban group is 18.67 per cent.
Even here, the Dalits seem to lose out, as 34 per cent of the rural SC population and 25 per cent of the urban has never attended an educational institution.