Educational disparities in Uttarakhand state, India: Experiences from three consecutive Census

This paper discusses the existing disparities in literacy in Uttarakhand state –the overall rate of literacy in the state jumped up to 79.6 per cent in 2011 from 57.7 per cent in 1991. While female literacy has increased at a faster rate than male literacy in last three decades, the gap in the male-female literacy has been a major hindrance in achieving the universalization goal of elementary education in the state. The literacy rates were 88.3% for males and, 70.7% for females in 2011. Sopher (1974) disparity index was used to study disparities in literacy by gender, and place of residence. Gender disparity was higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. But disparity between urban males vs rural females was lowered as compared to disparity between urban females vs rural females.