As we celebrate World Literacy Day on September 8, a worrying fact is that gender gap in literacy continues and is particularly marked in backward regions despite some gains over the decade.
The below table shows the exact figures of top and bottom five districts in female literacy.
Gender Gap In Literacy : Census 2011 |
|
Top 5 Districts In 'FEMALE LITERACY' |
Bottom 5 Districts In 'FEMALE LITERACY' |
BANGALORE : 84.80% |
YADGIR : 41.31% |
DAKSHINA KANNADA : 84.04% |
RAICHUR : 49.56% |
UDUPI : 81.41% |
CHAMARAJANAGAR : 54.32% |
UTTAR KANNADA : 78.21% |
GULBARGA : 55.87% |
KODAGU : 77.91% |
KOPPAL : 56.22 |
According to the report of 2011 census, the literacy in Karnataka grew from 66.64% to 75.60 in a decade and female literacy rose from 57.54% to 68.10%. Though there is a positive growth, in a decade the growth of female literacy is higher at 10.59% points as opposed to male literacy growth of 6.56% points.
Though the gender gap in literacy gap has seen a shrunk across districts, there is a vast regional variation. Bangalore has the lowest gap of 7.02% , showing a gap of 22.02%, said the 2011 Census report.
The best record of bridging the gender reduction over the decade, as per the census 2011 was shown by Gadag where female literacy rose from 52.52 to 65.29%. However, even this rise does not bring the rates anywhere close to toppers like Bangalore, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, where over 80% of women are literates.
A closer study of the statistics also illustrates that an impressive increase in the overall literacy rate does not imply an automatic increase in the female literacy at the same rate.