Education level of SC/STs gone up in comparison to last decade, says 2011 census data

NEW DELHI: Education level among SCs and STs population at middle, higher secondary and above has gone up during 2001-2011 compared to the previous decade.

According to the 2011 census, there is a "negligible decline" among the general population in case of matric and secondary, while for SCs and STs, there is improvement.

"The improvements at higher educational levels along with decline in percentage share at below-primary and primary level are indication of educational advancement in the country during the decade 2001-11," Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India said in a statement today.

The census 2011 data on highest educational level attained among population of seven years and above by age and sex for total population, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes up to district levels.

The data gives the distribution of literates by highest educational levels attained like literate without educational level, below primary, primary, middle, matric/secondary, higher secondary/intermediate/ pre-university/senior secondary, non-technical diploma or certificate not equal to degree, technical diploma or certificate not equal to degree and Graduate and above.

Primary occupies the top position in terms of percentage share to total literates in 2011 for both total (24.1 per cent) and SCs (27.7 per cent) and for STs, it is below primary (29 per cent).

The percentage share of graduate and above to population of 15 years and above has shown improvement from 5.7 per cent to 8.2 per cent for total, 2.2 per cent to 4.1 per cent for SCs and 1.5 per cent to 2.6 per cent for STs during 2001-11.

The percentage share of graduate degree other than technical degree to total graduate and above has declined by 7.2 per cent for total, 7.7 per cent for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs during the decade 2001-2011.

While the share of post graduate degree other than technical degree (+2.9 per cent for total literates, +2.4 per cent for SCs and +2.4 per cent for STs) and technical degrees or diplomas equal to degree or post graduate degree (+4.4 per cent for total, +5.3 per cent for SCs and +5.1 per cent for STs) have shown improvement during the said decade.