EDUCATION AND CULTURE

GROWTH OF LITERACY

The trend in the growth of literacy can be traced from the Census reports of the Central Provinces and from the figures given therein about the Maratha Plain Division. The Census of 1901 showed that out of a total population of 5,76,000 there were 17,100, or 3 per cent literate. The figures of those literate at different ages showed that education was more common among the younger generation than among the older. In 1901 only 3 per cent of the population were literate. However, only one-eighth per cent (687) was literate in English. Even among those who spoke English with some fluency for the purposes of their profession very few knew the language well enough to understand exactly an ordinary English book. People who were well read in oriental literature and people who had acquired knowledge which could he called either wide or accurate according to high standards were equally rare. The Census report of 1911 stated the figures of literates as 74 per mille for the Maratha Plain Division. It was the highest in Amravati, Nagpur and Wardha, but was low in the Wainganga Valley districts and Yeotmal where the proportion of higher castes was small. In almost all cases the proportion of literates in the age period of 20 and over was smaller than that in the age period of 15 and 20. This was attributed to the fact that l'many who go though the primary schools in youth lapse into complete illiteracy at a laterstage, this being specially the case in the cultivating classes, who have little stimulus to keep up their education after leaving schools". According to the Census report there was on an average one literate female to 21 literate males, the proportion of literate women to the total number of women being 3 per mille throughout the Central Provinces. Between 1901 and 1911 the number of girls' schools in the Province increased from 238 to 343 with a corresponding increase in the number of girls receiving education from 14,260 to 28,509. The 1921 Census report for the Central Provinces representing Maratha Plains reported 177 males per mille and 17 females per mille as literate.

The 1931 Census report recorded that while during the 50 years from 1881 the literacy of males had increased by 140 per cent, the proportion of female literacy was 11 times of that of 1881.

The following statement gives the percentage of literacy in the district from 1901 to 1961.

The statement shows that during the period of four decades from 1901 to 1941 while the literacy percentage in the district had increased by more than three-fold, the increase in the literacy percentage of the females was by eighteen-fold and whereas the literacy percentage has increased five times during the last thirty years the improvement has been very substantial during 1951—1961 period. The progress is really remarkable in the context of a large tribal population in the district and the proportion of urban population being too small.

The scheme of compulsory primary education introduced by the State Government may be one of the factors which helped to improve the level of literacy in the district.

The northern potion of the district which lies in the basin of the Wardha river is the most literate area. The literacy rate chops down beyond this region towards the south. The hilly and forest areas in the extreme south of the district in parts of Pusad and Kelapur talukas have the lowest rates of literacy. In the district the Yeotmal taluka has the highest literacy for total, males and females. Even for urban areas the Yeotmal taluka stands first for total, male and female literacy.

The education of women is a recent development. This is evident from the comparatively higher literacy rate for females in the age group of 5—14 as against that for females in the age group of 15—34.

Before the inception of the Zilla Parishad. education was under the jurisdiction of the State Government and the Director of Education was the head of the department at the State level.

The following table shows the number of educational institutions, students, etc., in the district for the years 1965 66 and 1970-71.

TABLE No. 1

NUMBER OF INSTITUTIONS, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT.

The following two tables show the educational level in the district in 1961.

TABLE No. 2

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT, 1961 (RURAL AREA)

TABLE No. 3

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IN YEOTMAL DISTRICT, 1961

(URBAN AREA)

As regards institutions imparting special education in the district, in the year 1966-67 there were 4 arts and crafts institutions and 1 agricultural school. The enrolment in these institutions stood at 145 and 121, respectively.

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