Education without equity: Why India's 80.9% literacy rate fails to bridge the gender and regional divide

Time of India

03-06-2025

India's literacy saga, in the preface, is one of the triumphs. With the national literacy rates rising to 80.9% for persons aged seven and above, it is easy to decode a progress of social transformation.
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However, digging deeper into the numbers, a disturbing trend paints a grim picture. The data echoes embedded and still enshrined gender and geographical barriers that choke the promise of equitable education.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24, released by the National Sample Survey Office, puts forth a brimming paradoxical portrait. While islands of excellence such as Mizoram (98.2%), Lakshadweep (97.3%), and Kerala (95.3%) showcase what is possible when governance, inclusivity, and access converge, large swathes of India remain trapped in a cycle of systemic denial.
The illusion of a literate India
It is one thing to announce that four out of five Indians are literate. It is quite another to neglect that for every 100 literate men, there are still only approximately 87 literate women. That gap is etched more deeply in rural areas, where patriarchal norms are more pronounced and school dropouts among girls remain routine. In Rural Rajasthan, male literacy stands at 83.6% while female literacy lags behind at 61.8%, a gap of nearly 22 percentage points.
These are not merely statistical illustrations. They are a failure of policy, of outreach, and of will.
Geography as destiny: Rural India left behind
India's rural-urban divide in literacy is more than an urban-rural mismatch; it is a reflection of a fractured federal structure where resource allocation remains deeply skewed. Urban India boasts a literacy rate of 88.9%, but rural India trails far behind at 77.5%. In Madhya Pradesh, the contrast is glaring: rural literacy stands at 71.6%, urban literacy at 85.7%, a yawning gap of over 14 percentage points.
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In Bihar, the rural literacy rate is 72.1% and the urban rate is 83.2%. The rural areas continue to suffer from dilapidated schools, chronic teacher shortages, and abysmally low investment in girls' education. The result? Literacy remains a privilege of the city, not a right of the village.
Women and the weight of cultural burden
In states like Rajasthan, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, the gender divide is not incidental; it is structural. These are states where girls are still married off early, where school becomes optional after puberty, and where every kilometer to the classroom can be an unsafe, unforgiving journey.
Rajasthan's gender literacy gap — a staggering 20.1% — is a stark reminder that educational equity cannot be achieved through policy pronouncements alone.
In states like Rajasthan, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, the gender and geographical divide is not incidental, it is structural. These are states which still witness early marriage of girls, where schools become optional after girls hit puberty, and where every kilometre to the classroom can be unsafe.
Rajasthan's startling gender literacy gap is a reminder that educational equity cannot be attained through policy pronouncements alone.
The uneven triumph of India's literacy mission
That Mizoram can boast of a female literacy rate of 97% while rural Madhya Pradesh stagnates at 62.6% should ring alarm bells in the corridors of power. The literacy movement in India has not failed, but it has failed to be fair.
Kerala model, entailing early social reform and sustained by public education investments, stands tall as an exemplary example.
But its replication remains symbolic than strategic elsewhere. Academics in many northern and central Indian states are still marred by poverty, patriarchy, and politics.
What the numbers hide, and what they reveal
Literacy, as defined by the PLFS, is the mere ability to read and write with understanding in any language. However, when the benchmark is set so low, what are we truly clapping for?
India stands at a precipice. The numbers are motivating, yes, but the shadows they cast are too dark to be neglected.
The next chapter of India's development story must not be about inflating percentages, but about breaking the silence. The silence of girls denied classrooms, of villages denied teachers, and of millions denied the dignity of education.
Literacy must mean liberation
Literacy must transcend the number maze. It must lead to empowerment. The fact that in 2025, a nation with 80.9% literacy still sees girls drop out of school, and children in rural areas craving to study better is an indictment of its collective conscience
Yes, India has inched closer to literacy for all, but it has yet to arrive morally. Until every girl in every village can read, write, and dream without fear and restriction, the celebration must wait.
Because education is not a privilege - it is a fundamental right, the foundation upon which all other rights and freedoms are built.