RURAL LITERACY

SURVEY

THE GROUND REALITY

Literacy plays a major role in the socio-economic

development of any nation. In a developing country like India
where the literacy rate is 74.04%, it is vital for the masses to
be educated. Though the current figure has been a six-fold
improvement since Independence (12%), the level is well
below the global average literacy rate of 84%. Of all the
nations in the world, India currently has the largest illiterate
population. Despite all the various government programmes,
Indias literacy rate has increased only by a slight margin.

This was evident from the survey we took as part of our

internship here at RLEK. We 7 students of RMLNLU
undertook a field trip for 2 days in which we surveyed
about 40 families from 2 villages of Dehradun- Challang
and Nagal Bhatnala. Apart from providing useful data, this
survey also provided an insight into the lives and
mindsets of the people living in these villages surrounding
Doon. Despite being in the vicinity of the state capital
which was also known as the Education Capital of India,
the level of education is lower than expected.

We visited the villages of Challang and Nagal Bhatnala

after talking to the Pradhan, Mr. Veer Singh Chauhan. Here we
surveyed some 40 houses of which 4 refused to answer/didnt
collaborate.
The people were friendly and answered our questions
without any discomfort. For them we were people who could
make a difference and help them overcome the difficulties
they were facing.

Most of the adult population was educated

barring a few. The common pattern was that all
of them had attended school at least till class 5
which shows that they had basic education and
were literate. There were 27 people who had
attended school whereas 9 who accepted that
they had never attended school or had any kind
of education. The younger people (20-30) had
formal education with one of them being a
doctor while another one had a M.B.A degree.

Literacy among
Adults
25%
Literate

75%

Illiterate
Literate- 27
Illiterate- 9
Refused- 4

The majority of people were self-employed

closely followed by people working in service
sector (Drivers, teachers etc). The self
employed population mainly consisted of
population who owned shops or had their own
business and some were contractors.
The Daily wage workers/Labourers were mostly
people who were illiterate with some of them
having studied till Class 5. It was not exclusive
though as some were also employed as Bus
drivers. The unemployed subjects were looking
work, two of them having quit their previous
jobs most likely for a better paying one.

Source Of Income
11.1%
(4)
33.34%
(12)

25%
(9)

30.56%
(11)

Self-Employed
Service
Labour
Unemployed

 Though

most of them did not have much exposure they did want to give their children as

much education as they could financially afford. The ratio of the number of boys attending
school to the number of girls attending was a good 39:34.
But

it was evident that parents were more in favour of sending their male child to a Private

English medium school than their female child. One could actually feel that even though
the girl child is getting educated they are still not seen to be at par with the male child by
many.
There

was a house where they had 2 male children who attended a nearby private English

medium school whereas the girl child attended the government Hindi medium school in the
village. This shows that people still believe in investing more in the boy than the girl.
This

probably explains why there are more girls going to the government school whereas

the number of boys in Non-government schools is higher. But this may also be the result of
a large number of female kids in the households with a meagre income.

CHILD EDUCATION
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Boys
Girls

The data that we collected and the

conversations we had with the
villagers gave us a clear conclusion
that the people were in favour of
educating their children but had their
hands tied by their financial condition
or unavoidable circumstances. They
wanted to teach them as long as the
child wished to study and as long as
they could support his/her studies.

CONCLUSION
The people of both the villages were to a large extent educated
but did not have any formal education having completed their
intermediate (in case of males) and studied till class 5th or 8th (in
case of females). They were largely self-employed or were in
Blue Collar jobs. They were largely enthusiastic about survey
and wanted to know our objective and asked if this would lead
to some sort of campaign or opening of schools in the village.
There was no one who was opposed to the idea of educating
his/her children. Thus we can safely conclude that in the
villages of Challang and Nagal Hatnala, people are aware and
are in favour of educating their children.