MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. SHASHI THAROOR)
(a) & (b) The available data (2001 Census) reveals that the literacy rate among minorities,
except Muslims, is more than the then national average as noted below:
All religious communities – 64.8%
Hindus - 65.1%
Muslims - 59.1%
Christians - 80.3%
Sikhs - 69.4%
Buddhists - 74.7%
Jains - 94.1%
(c) & (d) The Government is implementing various Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and the Saakshar Bharat to raise the literacy level, in the age group of
6-14 years and 15 years and above respectively, in the country. Both the schemes focus on
minorities, especially Muslims. To improve the enrolment rates of Muslim children, the SSA
provides for the opening of new schools, construction of school buildings, construction of
additional classrooms, additional teachers as per Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR), Kasturba Gandhi
Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV), free text books to all Muslim children from classes I to VIII, Urdu
text books provided for Urdu Medium Schools and for Urdu as a subject and as part of the free
text book assistance under the SSA, free uniforms (two sets) to all children. As per the
District Information System for Education, Muslim Enrolment has been rising steadily in
elementary education, where in it was 1.84 crore in 2007-08 & is 2.54 crore in 2011-12.
(d) As per the Census of 2011, the literacy levels of males and females have increased to
82.14 and 65.46 respectively. It is expected that the literacy levels among Minorities,
including Muslims, would have also increased. But this can be corroborated only as and
when disaggregated data based on the 2011 Census is released by the RGI.
