Muslims Worse In Women’s Literacy

[Greater-Punjab]

New Delhi, Sept. 23: A comparison of adult literacy rates among India’s religious communities based on the 2001 census shows that Muslims fare the worst. With an overall adult literacy level of 59.1 per cent, it is far less than the literacy level among the Jains who have an overall level of 94.1 per cent, the highest among all religious groups in the country.

The Jain community not only has the highest overall literacy levels among all religious communities but also has the best female literacy level with 90.6 per cent. A level way ahead of the overall female literacy level of 53.7 per cent.

All this and more is contained in a report on the "Status of Adult Literacy" in India, which has made use of the 2001 census data to do a religion-wise analysis too. Brought out by the National Literacy Mission, adult literacy in India basically means targeting those aged between 15 and 35.

The report says that the Muslim community’s adult literacy level is 5.7 per cent less than the national average of 5.57 per cent. As for female literacy among the Muslim population, the report says that it is the lowest among the female literacy rates of all other religious communities. Only 50.1 per cent of Muslim women are educated. But going by the average literacy rate among women of all religious communities, 53.7 per cent, the difference of 3.6 per cent isn’t that substantial.

The report listed 16 states with low Muslim literacy rates — among them are Bihar, Haryana, J&K, UP, Assam, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal — as compared to the overall literacy rate of 59.1 per cent in the community.

But the picture isn’t all bleak as it also notes that in at least 17 states/union territories, adult literacy levels among the Muslims are higher than the national average of 64.8 per cent. Among these states/UTs are Kerala, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Orissa, MP, Karnataka, AP and Delhi.

Yet, as the Sachar committee, which also examined the educational status of the Muslim community in India, pertinently observes Muslims have not been able to respond to the challenge of improving their educational status. As a result, "Their gap vis-a-vis those labelled ‘all others’ (with initially high literacy levels) has increased further, particularly since the 1980s.

The Jain community not only has the highest overall adult literacy levels among all religious communities but also has the best female literacy levels with a percentage of 90.6. A level way ahead of the overall female literacy level of 53.7 per cent.

As for Hindus, their overall adult literacy levels at 65.1 per cent are better than those professing the Muslim faith but worse than all other religions. While the male literacy level is 76.2 per cent, among females it is merely 52.2 per cent.

The report notes that the literacy rate of Hindus in the states of Bihar (47.9 per cent), Jharkhand (54.6 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (58 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (59.4 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (62.8 per cent), Orissa (63.3 per cent) and Chhatisgarh (63.9 per cent) is lower than the national average.

As for the Christian community, the report notes that it is an overall 80.3 per cent. But in states, like Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Orissa, the literacy rate is lower than the national average. Regarding the Sikh community, the report says that it is higher than the national average in all states expect Rajasthan where it is just a wee bit lower at 64.7 per cent.

Buddhists have an overall literacy level of 72.7 per cent and is by and large higher than the state average except in six states — Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

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