NOTES

Economic & Political Weekly EPW february 18, 2012 vol xlviI no 7
73
Inequalities in Literacy
in Jammu and Kashmir
Tanveer Ahmad Dar, Shumila Khaki
Regional disparities in literacy
levels were rightly emphasised in
the recent Jammu and Kashmir
Finance Commission report, with
Jammu having achieved a literacy
rate of 73% and Kashmir only
65%. However, this note argues
that differences between districts
and education zones, and more
importantly, between different
socio-economic groups are more
real and sizeable. These can be
traced to high dropout rates
among schoolchildren, owing to
the numerous direct and indirect
effects of over two decades
of conict.
I
n a promising move in 2007, the
Ghulam Nabi Azad-led government
constituted a Finance Commission,
through the State Finance Commission
Act of 2006, to study regional disparities
between Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh
and recommend measures for improve-
ment.
1
The commission included a three-
member team headed by Mehmood-ur-
Rehman, a former home commissioner
of the state (Ali 2010).
2
The background
to this commission was the huge outcry in
the state about inter-regional disparities
in socio-economic and political develop-
ment among the three regions.
The constitution of the Finance Com-
mission can therefore be seen as a positive
move, if that is, the intention was to pursue
it with commitment and honesty. This
Finance Commission was to submit its
report within a year of its appointment
but as is the practice with all commissions
and committees in Jammu and Kashmir
(henceforth J&K), the commission was de-
layed. It nally submitted its bulky report,
consisting of seven volumes and more
than 1,000 pages (Ali 2010), to the chief
minister in November 2010. The report
highlights many important issues but rais-
es more questions than those it answers.
Education was one of the areas that the
Finance Commission considered in depth.
The report made headlines and was
featured on the front pages of a few daily
newspapers for several months. The
impression created by the state media
was that there were serious disparities in
educational performance in the state, with
Jammu region performing much better
than Kashmir. The dramatic increase in
the number of schools in the Jammu
region over the last few decades compared
with Kashmir suggested a regional bias
in educational development.
Achieving equitable socio-economic
and political development for all regions
is important, but before reaching any hard
conclusions, understanding regional dis-
parities, processes and developments is
imperative. However, this understand-
ing should not result in regional politics
and polarisation. Any overemphasis of
regional disparities in socio-economic
and political development could have
serious implications in J&K, where people
of different regions have voiced feelings
of alienation, in recent years.
This article attempts to provide in-
sight into the disparities in educational
achievement between different regions,
districts and socio-economic groups in
the state. More importantly, it seeks to
highlight other serious political forms of
disparities, which tend to be neglected. At
the same time, it explores why inequalities
of any nature exist, and why the J&K
School Education Act 2002 has failed to
achieve its objectives.
Inter-regional versus
Inter-district Disparities
Census data on literacy rates suggests an
urgent need to look more closely at dis-
parities beyond the regional level. In
2001, J&K had only a 55.52% literacy rate,
a 9.3% difference with the Indian level,
which stood at 64.84% (Census 2001 data
in Government of J&K 2008-09).
3
Recent
provisional gures from the 2011 Census
continue to show this pattern. A 5.3%
difference remains between J&K (68.7%)
and India (74%) in literacy rates (Registrar
General and Census Commissioner, India
2011). The Finance Commission report
rightly emphasised a concern with regional
disparities. The Jammu region achieved
a literacy rate of 73% while Kashmir
achieved only 65% (Registrar General
and Census Commissioner, India 2011).
However, more serious than the state
and regional disparities are those between
districts within regions. For instance, the
literacy rate in Bandipora and Budgam
districts is about 58% and in Ramban, it
is 57%, compared to 84% in Jammu,
80% in Leh and 71% in Srinagar district
(Registrar General and Census Commis-
sioner, India 2011). Further disaggrega-
tion within districts shows even more
serious differences. For instance, in
Special thanks to Frances Smith for help in
editing and Yasir Hamid for his invaluable
suggestions and comments. We are grateful
to Shantha Sinha, Venkat Reddy and Wakar
Amin for encouraging us to write on this issue.
We would also like to thank Harsh Mander,
Dipa Sinha, Biraj Patnaik and Ritu Priya for
their advice and guidance. Thanks are also
due to Vikas Bhaskar, Swapnali Patil and Raa
Farooq. The views expressed in this article are
the authors own.
Tanveer Ahmad Dar (tanveerdar.tanveer@
gmail.com) is at the School of Social Sciences,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and
Shumila Khaki is at the department of social
work, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
NOTES
february 18, 2012 vol xlviI no 7 EPW Economic & Political Weekly
74
Kalaroos and Sogam educational zones
of the district of Kupwara, the literacy
rate is only about 29%.
4
Why is there a low literacy in Ramban
even though Jammu region has a 73%
literacy rate? Why do Kalaroos and
Sogam educational zones have literacy
rates lower than 30%, not even half of
the literacy rate in Kashmir? These are
questions that cannot be ignored.
Interestingly, simple calculations using
2011 Census literacy data tell us more
about issues beyond regional disparities.
If we just remove two districts Jammu
and Samba from the 10 districts of
Jammu region, the performance of the
other eight districts is just a little better
than Kashmir. These eight districts of
Jammu region together have achieved
only a 67% literacy rate, compared to
65% in Kashmir. Where do the actual
disparities lie then? Just two of these
districts have been able to achieve the
highest literacy rates in the state Jammu
at 84% and Samba at 82%. These two
were one district (and one of the two
biggest cities in the state, the other one
being Srinagar) until 2006, when Samba
was carved out into a separate district.
Kathua is another better performing dis-
trict in Jammu region, achieving a 73.5%
literacy rate. In Kashmir region, Srinagar
district has a 71% literacy rate, very close
to that of Kathua. This suggests that,
though striking, the key issue is not the
regional disparity, but is rather inter-
district disparity.
In fact, cities and economically high
performing districts of the state per-
form well on literacy. When we examine
poorer districts, we nd that literacy
rates are drastically lower. For instance,
according to the latest publicly available
gures, the per capita income (PCI) for
2004-05 in Srinagar was Rs 24,459, the
highest in the Kashmir; PCI in Budgam was
Rs 17,250, almost 30% less than Srinagar.
Together with Bandipore, Budgam is one
of the districts with the lowest literacy
rates in Kashmir, and Srinagar has one
of the highest.
Similarly, severe disparities also exist in
the PCI among districts in Jammu region.
The PCI for the districts with highest lite-
racy rates in Jammu region was Rs 23,298
(Jammu) and Rs 21,946 (Kathua). But for
Doda, it was Rs 15,194, almost 35% less
than Jammu and 31% lower than Kathua
(Government of J&K 2009).
5
Notably,
Ramban with the lowest literacy rate in
Jammu region was carved out of Doda
in 2006.
Budgam and Ramban are relatively
rural and hilly districts, whereas Srinagar
and Jammu are the most prominent
cities. Could it be that these poor, far-
off, hilly and economically backward
districts are given second-class treat-
ment in development activity and ser-
vice delivery within the state, impacting
educational outcomes?
Access to Schools
Also compelling are regional disparities
viewed in terms of the number of schools
functioning in the Kashmir, Jammu and
Ladakh regions. The Finance Commis-
sion report has shown that the number
of schools in Jammu increased from
4,953 in 1980 to 8,285 in 2007 (a 67%
increase). In Ladakh, the number rose
from 411 to 729 (a 77% increase). The
corresponding increase in Kashmir was
far lower, from 4,901 to 6,844 (only 40%)
(Ali 2011). The increase in the number of
schools in Jammu region would certainly
have been an important factor in achiev-
ing the higher levels of literacy.
However, the existence of schools is
not the only factor in ensuring that
children attend regularly. The schools
available must also be socially and eco-
nomically accessible for all children. A
number of other factors play a crucial
role in determining whether a child will
be able to attend and continue his/her
studies. Even at the village level, some
children attend school regularly but
their next-door neighbours do not, even
when there is a government-run school
open to everyone. Childrens ability to
attend school is not only an outcome
of infrastructure but depends on other
factors as well.
Macro gures show a high dropout
ratio of 53.75% in 2004-05 in the state
(Government of J&K 2008). This implies
that children have been able to enrol but
cease to attend, not because there are no
schools, but because of other reasons.
The ability of children to attend school is
directly related to the socio-economic
situation of their families and the political
situation of the region. That is the reason
why the literacy rate among lower socio-
economic groups is much lower, an issue
that receives very little attention in J&K.
For instance, the literacy rate among the
scheduled tribe (ST) population is just
37.5%, while for the total population, the
literacy rate is 55.5% (Census 2001 data
in Government of India 2005).
The authors visited a few villages
in Bandipora (Acham, Inder koot and
Now gam villages), Kupwara (Zachaldara,
Yemlar and Khanpur villages) and Kulgam
(Bonigam and Yarhol villages) districts
in Kashmir in May-August 2011 and inter-
acted with parents individually and in
groups, as well as with local teachers,
panchayat members, self-help groups
(SHGs) and non-governmental organisa-
tion (NGO) activists. What was clear was
that there was high school dropout rates
in most of these villages.
The high costs of admission fees, print-
ing charges, uniforms, school bags, shoes,
notebooks and other stationary through-
out the year and tuition during winter
vacations (of two to three months) can be
difcult for parents to afford. These
amounted to more than Rs 500 per
month, on an average, throughout the
year for a child in primary and upper
primary classes, according to the re-
spondents we interviewed during May-
August 2011. These are hidden costs not
recognised by the state, which claims
that it provides free and compulsory ed-
ucation. If parents cannot afford these
costs, the children drop out.
In focus group discussions, almost 40
to 50 parents in these villages reported
that they had some of their children
going to school while the others dropped
out and were engaged in the carpet
industry or other work. Many parents
explained that these children worked to
pay for the education of the others. These
are not the stories of a few families but
the saga of thousands of villages and
families, and could explain the high
dropout rate in the state of about 53.75%
in 2004-05.
These are the reasons why lower socio-
economic groups such as STs in the state,
as well as in Kashmir, have lower literacy
levels than the general population, and
NOTES
Economic & Political Weekly EPW february 18, 2012 vol xlviI no 7
75
why the relatively poor districts of Band-
ipora, Budgam, Kupwara and Ganderbal
have lower literacy rates. This also ex-
plains why cities Jammu and Srinagar
have higher literacy rates than other
districts, because they are relatively
rich districts.
Born and Brought Up in Conict?
Also, one should not forget that the
Kashmir Valley has witnessed different
phases of conict over the last two dec-
ades and more. A number of studies reveal
that the long conict has taken a heavy
toll. Although the numbers vary across
sources, even conservative estimates
suggest that tens of thousands of people
have been killed in the valley in the last
20 years, leaving many children orphaned
and women widowed. Education was
another casualty for children during times
of escalated violence and unrest. In fact,
during conict, education and schooling
have an even more important role to
play than during peaceful times, as
schooling can represent a state of nor-
malcy with the potential of providing
safe zones for children.
However, like in other parts of the
world, in Kashmir, many schools were
specically targeted during the years of
conict. The Indian security forces occu-
pied a number of schools. Although in the
last few years, many schools have been
evacuated, a good number are still occu-
pied or surrounded by the Indian security
forces. In a region of less deve loped infra-
structure, the occupation of schools for
other purposes has taken a heavy toll on
their accessibility and availability.
In fact, there are many other direct
and indirect effects from the conict in
Kashmir that have implications for chil-
drens ability to attend school. A study of
children conducted by a psychiatric hos-
pital in Kashmir reported that almost
36% (37 out of a sample of 103) displayed
symptoms of post-traumatic stress dis order
(Dasgupta 2008). Mental stress, anxiety
and depression have a direct effect on
childrens ability to attend school regu-
larly and to perform well in their studies.
While these are the direct effects,
conict has affected childrens lives
through many indirect means such as
increased economic uncertainty, loss of
adult protection and so on. According to
a United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
estimate, the number of orphans goes up
to one lakh. The majority of orphans in
the valley are living miserable lives be-
cause of the fear, depression, destitution,
negligence and discrimination (Dar and
Khaki 2011).
The ongoing conict in Kashmir also
had an impact on peoples ability to work,
particularly for those who are dependent
on daily wage work, the tourist and
handicraft sectors and those who migrate
to towns and cities on a daily or on a long-
term basis. The 62nd round of the NSSO
(2005-06) has shown a high unemploy-
ment rate of 5.21% in the state against
the Indian national rate of 3.09% (Ofce
of the Commissioners et al 2009). Loss of
employment has serious repercussions on
the upbringing of children. The loss of
bread-earners in many families due to
conict-related incidents and the inability
of many families to work, especially in
the tourist and handloom sectors, forced
many parents to withdraw their children
from school and send them to work to
supplement meagre family incomes.
Studies have found that children who
were out of school were engaged in child
labour in a range of activities, from carpet
weaving and construction to working in
tea stalls, mechanic shops and the trans-
port industry. Domestic child labour is
also a serious issue in the state and very
little spoken of, even in the state secre-
tariat, because an absolute ban would
lead to a crisis for the elite.
State-level macro gures reect this
dismal picture. The state had 70,489
child labourers in 1971, which increased
to 1,75,630 in 2011, an increase of 149%.
Comparable gures for the whole of India
show that there were 1,07,53,985 child
labourers in 1971 and that this increased
to 1,26,66,377 in 2001, an increase of just
17.7% (Census 1971 and 2001 data in
National Commission for Protection of
Child Rights nd). Unofcial sources give
even higher estimates. Fayaz Ahmad
Nika, in his book Child Labour in Jammu
and Kashmir, estimated that there were
around 2,40,000 child workers in Jammu
and Kashmir (Khalid 2011). More worrying
is the fact that such children face high
levels of exploitation in Kashmir, are forced
to work for long hours and paid meagre
wages. A study by Save the Children
(United Kingdom (UK)), conducted in
2003, revealed that the prevalence of child
labour has increased in the past decade
due to conict in the Valley.
The political situation in over two
decades in Kashmir has seriously affected
all aspects of life in Kashmir. The unstable
political situation has created a lack
of accountability amongst ofcials, and
strikes and protests provide them with
an alibi to not perform their duties. These
political reasons must be con sidered in
any analysis of the developmental per-
formance of Kashmir.
Institutional Blockades
The state implemented the J&K School
Education Act in 2002, which makes it
obligatory for the government to pro-
vide free and compulsory education for
children up to class eight, and to achieve
universalisation of elementary education
throughout the state within 10 years.
The government assumes responsibility
through the Act for establishing and
maintaining schools. The Act mostly relies
on the Local Area Establishment Com-
mittees (LAEC), which were to be consti-
tuted at the level of each panchayat halqa,
town area, notied area and municipal
ward for the Acts implementation. The
Act places an obligation on the parents
to send their children to school and to
ensure that they complete at least ele-
mentary education. The responsibility for
ensuring that parents are sending their
children to school lies with the LAEC.
However, the state government seemed
to be far more concerned with permitting
and regulating private schools through
this legislation, may be because the chil-
dren of the upper and middle classes go
to these supposedly better private schools.
In almost the ninth year since the com-
mencement of the Act, reports and the
2011 Census data show that literacy rates
are still compromised, and dropout rates
remain high, demonstrating that the Act
has failed to meet its promises. The
reasons for its failure seem primarily to
lie in the fact that the Act has failed to
raise fundamental questions. Assuming a
homogeneous society, it has also failed to
respond to institutional problems, to the
NOTES
february 18, 2012 vol xlviI no 7 EPW Economic & Political Weekly
76
fundamental socio-economic structures
in different areas, and to different socio-
economic groups. The assumption is that
failure to attend school is due to ignorance,
carelessness and negligence on the part
of parents, and not because of socio-
economic conditions. However, if one
dares to look into the lives of the com-
mon people, it becomes clear that the
armchair speculations and assumptions
behind the Act do not hold merit.
During discussions by the authors in
the villages of Bandipora, Kupwara and
Kulgam in May-August 2011, it became
clear that the reasons for non-attendance
at school and drop out are multiple and
were mostly institutional. These include
charging of school fees, compulsory uni-
form and shoes, the inability of the state
government to meet other educational
expenses, the low socio-economic condi-
tions of families, and therefore the engage-
ment of children in farming and carpet
weaving, low quality education which
leads to children failing, no remedial or
special teaching/coaching to children who
have failed, a failure to implement other
government schemes such as providing
means of livelihood and work to people.
Most importantly, the state govern-
ment does not appear to have any built-
in mechanism for tracking the education
of each child. This negligence by ofcials
has resulted in many problems, includ-
ing a lack of effective planning at block
and district levels. The defective educa-
tion system has not been able to create
demand and mobilise people to ensure
that all children are sent to school.
There is no interface between parents and
the education department. The Village
Education Committees, on which the
implementation of the Act mostly relies,
are almost all dysfunctional, have been
politically hijacked, and not democrati-
cally elected.
In conclusion, the debate on inter-
regional disparities should not distract
us from the inter-district disparities in
the state, with poor and backward dis-
tricts like Ramban, Budgam, Kishtwar,
Ganderbal, Reasi and Bandipora falling
at the lower end of the literacy scale.
Equally important to consider are the
inter-zonal disparities within districts, for
example, Kalaroos and Sogam education
zones have achieved literacy rates of
29%, while Trehgam and Langate edu-
cation zones have achieved literacy rates
of 45% and 43% respectively in the same
Kupwara district. The state government
should not have to set up a new District
Finance Commission Act to look into inter-
district disparities.
The debate must focus on the literacy
rates of lower socio-economic groups
like STs, who have a literacy rate of just
37.5%, just about two-thirds of the literacy
rate of the state overall. The population
of STs is substantial, about 11% of the
total population,
6
and should make us
think about their exclusion not only
from development activities and from
education, but also from the develop-
ment discourse among stakeholders such
as government, NGOs, academics, civil
society and the people.
The new Indian Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2010
(RtE) provides for free schooling without
any annual fees, as well as free text-
books, notebooks and uniforms, all of
which have emerged as obstacles to reg-
ular school attendance for a large pro-
portion of children in Kashmir. The nd-
ings of the Finance Commission and the
2011 Census on low literacy levels and
striking disparities between the districts,
blocks and socio-economic groups should
be taken as an urgent call for introducing
legislation in J&K on par with the Indian
RtE, if we are to ensure equitable educa-
tional development across all regions,
districts and socio-economic groups.
Notes
1 The other terms of reference of the Commis-
sion were identication of backward districts
and their development at the micro level, equi-
table distribution of resources for develop-
ment, matters related to the employment back-
log, strengthening of local bodies, the state of
nances, augmentation of resources, matters
related to expenditure and debt, mapping of
regions and subregions and governance reforms
with reference to decentralisation.
2 The other two members of the Commission were
Nisar Ali, former head of department of eco-
nomics, University of Kashmir and Swami Raj
Sharma, former bureaucrat and now a politician.
3 Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
India (2001): Census Data Online Socio-Cul-
tural Aspects, viewed on 30 January 2012: http://
www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/
Census_Data_Online/Social_and_cultural.html
4 An educational zone may or may not overlap with
a block depending upon the topography and
population of the block. Disaggregated data at
the education zone level is not usually available
through the census or state sources. It is avail-
able in most cases with district administration
only. Data was retrieved for the authors from
the District Administration of Kupwara in 2011
by the organisation G D Memorial Welfare
Society of Handwara.
5 Data on PCI is not presented for Ramban, Sam-
ba, Bandipore and Ganderbal districts since
these district were created in 2006 and data on
PCI was not available in 2004-05.
6 Data retrieved from Registrar General and
Census Commissioner, India (2001): Census
Data Online Population. Viewed on 3 Febru-
ary 2012: http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Cen-
sus_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Popula-
tion/ST_Population.aspx
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