Illiteracy and Educational Problems in India

India though is fast developing as super power with impressive industrial growth and economic development,it is falling behind on human development index.The education scenario is alarmingly dismal at the grass-root level.India’s education program is falling behind other nations.It is a country with population already touching one billion while only one third will be able to read.Due to various social and economic problems India’s education programme is besieged with many problems.

Of the biggest victims are those living in the rural areas.Allocation of government funds and the conditions of the destitute rural schools contribute to the low quality of education by rural children.Many children living in rural areas receive a level of education which is very poor.Overall enrollment in primary and middle schools are very low.50% of the children living in these areas leave school before the 5th class.These children leave school for many reasons – lack of interest,working in the fields where hours are long and pay is low.A large percent of dropouts are female children.Forced by their parents most girls perform chores and tend the family at home.

These are some of the reasons why female literacy stands low in India.As these children grow into adults,many are still illiterate by the age of 40.These uneducated adults are also reluctant to send their own children to school.This creates a vicious circle where whole section of the community remain uneducated.A large number of teachers refuse to teach in rural areas and those that do are usually are under qualified.In recent years the number of qualified teachers has increased because of increased efforts by the government and civil society groups to improve general education and professional training of teachers.Those who refuse to teach in the rural areas cite distance and lack of interest by students as problems.

Many teachers lack enthusiasm due to their meager salary.Another obstacle faced by the schools is that obtaining more teachers because of state guidelines that approve of high student-teacher ratio.Lack of books and learning materials seem to be a widespread problem.The use of high-tech devices such as computers are very rare.Most of the rural schools operate without toilets,drinking water facility and electricity.The distribution of government funds is major hinderance to the educational system.According to a recent study,30% of the total educational funding goes toward higher educational institutions.

This is an important factor as the percent of students enrolled in these institutions are much lower.Lack of education has resulted in growth of unemployment,poverty and substantial increase in the growth of population.Illiteracy has proven to be a major handicap.It has percolated through various systems affecting the India’s growth.India needs policy changes in the way we look into the education system in the country.Government should ensure that the funds should reach where they are meant for and not get exhausted in the pockets of few.