CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu, one of the leading states in India on all development parameters, has managed to reduce the number of illiterates. But a closer look at the latest Census data reveals that the State lags when it comes to the pace of improvement in reducing illiteracy. Among 1.84 crore households with members aged above seven, more than 15 lakh households or 8.18 per cent have no literate members at all.
A comparison shows that the households with zero literates has reduced by 2.39 percentage points since the 2001 Census. While this is no mean feat considering the fact that absolute figures run into millions, Tamil Nadu is ranked after Gujarat, and even neighbours Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, whose illiteracy rates have fallen by an average of four percentage points.
The percentage of illiterate households in TN is also higher than that in Maharashtra (5.43 per cent), Gujarat (6.51 per cent) and Karnataka (7.06 per cent).
The district-wise figures paint a similar picture with the average dip in illiteracy rates hovering around 2 to 3 percentage points. With 23,754 households with zero literates, Chennai is one of the districts in Tamil Nadu with the least illiterate households along with Kanyakumari with 14,031. On the other hand, their reduction since the last Census has been 1.179 and 0.33 percentage points respectively.
Coimbatore, Tiruchy and Madurai also fall in line with the State average with their number of illiterate households remaining almost stagnant.
The worst among the districts is Erode with 14.90 per cent, followed by Dharmapuri (12.79 per cent) and Salem (12.64 per cent). They are followed by Krishnagiri and Tiruvannamalai that have recorded close to double-digit illiterate households.
As expected, a major chunk of illiterates emerge from rural areas, contributing an alarming 72.94 per cent to the total number of illiterate households in the State.
Their number since 2001 has also reduced only by less than 3 percentage points - from 14.32 to 11.59 per cent. Among them, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruchy and Madurai have recorded high rates of rural illiteracy.
Coimbatore, on the other hand, has an almost equal number of illiterate households among its rural and urban population.
“It is not surprising that Salem and Namakkal have high rural illiteracy. This has been the legacy and all social indicators are also low.The rural illiteracy in Tiruchy and Madurai can be attributed to rural-urban migration that happened in the decade. The educated rural population migrated into the urban pockets, thus resulting in high rural illiteracy,” said Andrew Sesuraj state convenor of the Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory
According to Sesuraj, while children are being enrolled into schools since the advent of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in 2001, it is the illiterate adult population that keeps the illiteracy rate high. Pooja Kulkarni, State project director of SSA agrees.
“Almost 100 per cent children are being enrolled in schools for the past three years. The existing illiterate adults are a problem. We are tackling the issue through adult literacy programmes in seven districts,” she said.