By, Madhu Rai

Roll# 33
JSPM College, Pune
What would our society be like
without women and girls?
Who will take care of the family,
carry forward the generations and
safeguard our culture?
A real concern for the society if we
do not wake up.

We surely are hypocrites. On the one

hand, we worship goddess Laxmi
and Parvati while on the other, we
exploit and humiliate girls by
keeping them away from education.
The development of any nation is indicated by the level of
education. That is why ‘education for all’ is strongly
recommended and focused by our government.

 A considerable progress literacy,

12% in 1947 whereas 74% in 2011

But still, India has not achieved what it should have during this
period.

 A considerable gap between male and female literacy rates

in India.

As per the census of 2011,

literacy rate for men 82.14%
literacy rate for men 65.46%.

 Though there has been seen a substantial increase in the

number of literate women and this gap is narrowing, it still
persists.

Among such figures, there exists a ray of hope as well.

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The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment)
Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the
Constitution of India to provide free and
compulsory education of all children in
the age group of six to fourteen years as a
Fundamental Right in such a manner as
the State may, by law, determine.
The Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009,
which represents the consequential
legislation envisaged under Article 21-A,
means that every child has a right to full
time elementary education of satisfactory
and equitable quality in a formal school
which satisfies certain essential norms and
standards.
 Literacy Rate (%) - Male Literacy Rate (%) - 2011 Female Literacy Rate (%) - 2011 Literacy Rate (%) - 2001 Decadal Difference
Rank India/State/Union Territory
2011 Census Census[2] Census[2] Census (pp)
India 74.04 82.14 65.46 64.83 9.21
1 Kerala 93.91 96.02 91.98 90.86 3.05
2 Lakshadweep 92.28 96.11 88.25 86.66 5.62
3 Mizoram 91.58 93.72 89.4 88.8 2.78
4 Tripura 87.75[a] 92.18 83.15 73.19 14.56
5 Goa 87.4 92.81 81.84 82.01 5.39
6 Daman & Diu 87.07 91.48 79.59 78.18 8.89
7 Puducherry 86.55 92.12 81.22 81.24 5.31
8 Chandigarh 86.43 90.54 81.38 81.94 4.49
9 Delhi 86.34 91.03 80.93 81.67 4.67
10 Andaman & Nicobar 86.27 90.11 81.84 81.3 4.97
11 Himachal Pradesh 83.78 90.83 76.6 76.48 7.3
12 Maharashtra 82.91 89.82 75.48 76.88 6.03
13 Sikkim 82.2 87.29 76.43 68.81 13.39
14 Tamil Nadu 80.33 86.81 73.86 73.45 6.88
15 Nagaland 80.11 83.29 76.89 66.59 13.52
16 Manipur 79.85 86.49 73.17 69.93 9.92
17 Uttarakhand 79.63 88.33 70.7 71.62 8.01
18 Gujarat 79.31 87.23 70.73 69.14 10.17
19 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 77.65 86.46 65.93 57.63 20.02
20 West Bengal 77.08 82.67 71.16 68.64 8.44
21 Punjab 76.68 81.48 71.34 69.65 7.03
22 Haryana 76.64 85.38 66.77 67.91 8.73
23 Karnataka 75.6 82.85 68.13 66.64 8.96
24 Meghalaya 75.48 77.17 73.78 62.56 12.92
25 Odisha 73.45 82.4 64.36 63.08 10.37
26 Assam 73.18 78.81 67.27 63.25 9.93
27 Chhattisgarh 71.04 81.45 60.59 64.66 6.38
28 Madhya Pradesh 70.63 80.53 60.02 63.74 6.89
29 Uttar Pradesh 69.72 79.24 59.26 56.27 13.45
30 Jammu & Kashmir 68.74 78.26 58.01 55.52 13.22
31 Jharkhand 67.63 78.45 56.21 53.56 14.07
32 Andhra Pradesh 67.4[b] 75.56 59.74 -- --
33 Rajasthan 67.06 80.51 52.66 60.41 6.65
34 Arunachal Pradesh 66.95 73.69 59.57 54.34 12.61
 Other than India girl child education has been
a major problem in countries like Africa, Kenya,
Uganda, Nigeria, etc
In Kenya the government has taken
some initiatives in the promotion of
children’s education by enshrining
this right in the Children’s Act, 2001.
According to Section 127 of the
Children’s Act 2001, “any person
found guilty of negligence is liable
for a maximum of five years
imprisonment or a fine of a sum not
exceeding KES 200000 or both fine
and imprisonment”.
Other countries can promulgate
such laws so as to improve access to
education of girl child.
By, Madhu Rai
Roll# 33
JSPM College, Pune