Development is a multi-dimensional concept. It encompasses, among others, the economic, social, cultural and spiritual development of mankind. The basic difference between mankind and animal is that human being have intelligence and thinking capacity that enable them to exploit natural resources for its advantage and development. Education strengthens and sharpens intelligence and the thinking capacity and helps the mankind to choose the right developmental perspective.

Women are the real treasure of any nation. They are the principal architects of the family, the nation and the world. It is they who give birth to new generations. The entire future of mankind solely, societal development. Education provides the foundation for this. Women's education is not only the key to development, but also for bringing up peace, prosperity, harmony and co-operation in the society. Literacy and other education programmes for women, therefore assumes the highest importance in the planning for development of any nation. The higher the level of literacy and education of women, the faster would be the development process. In this context, it would be illuminating to examine the experience of Kerala which has the highest level of women's literacy and education and a unique pattern of development This would, hopefully, throw some light on the interlinkage between women's education and development which may help to chalk out future plans of action in area of women's literacy and education in the context of development, An attempt is, therefore, made in this paper to examine briefly the experience of Kerala in the field of women's literacy and education in the past and also the challenges ahead.

1. Pre-independence scenario of women's literacy and development in Kerala

The empowerment of women as a concept was introduced at the International Women's Conference 1985 at Nairobi and development with empowerment has become the slogan for the 1990. The Government of India made a commitment at Nairobi for uprooting gender discrimination at the earliest.

The National Policy on empowerment of women 1986 drafted by the Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India declares that empowerment of women is possible by giving them complete and equal access to and control over factors contributing to such empowerment, particularly health, education, information, life-long learning for self-development, vocational skills, employment and income earning opportunities. It would be interesting to know that in Kerala this kind of an approach was in vogue much before independence.

A system of non-formal education organised around temples prevailed in Kerala even before 18th century. Because of the matriarchal system in the Nair community, one of the dominant castes, women enjoyed respectability and status in their families and they got the opportunity to learn in the indigenous local 'Kudippallikkudoms' run by 'Asans' (Master). Thus, traditionally women in the Nair community had equality in many ways and education was one among them. However, with the commencement of modern education by Christian missionaries in the 19th century, female education received a greater emphasis. The first Girl's School in India was started by the missionaries in the State of Travancore in 1819 and this was followed by another school by the Government in 1859. By the end of the 19th century, the state had several girls schools. The relatively high literacy level among women in Kerala is the result of these early efforts . The female literacy rate was 31.5 in Kerala in 1951 as against just 7.9 in India as a whole.

The high female literacy undoubtedly, facilitated the state to achieve remarkably high status in health as evidenced from indicators like life expectancy, infant mortality etc., The life expectancy at birth in Kerala was always higher among females. In 1951, the life expectancy at birth among females was 42.30 as against 39.90 among males. Both these were higher in Kerala, compared to that in India. Similarly the lower infant mortality rate, birth rate and death rate in Kerala, compared to all India rates in 1951 were also partly attributable to the higher level of female literacy in the State. (annexure-1)

The relatively high literacy and education level in Kerala, particularly among women paved the way for several socio-cultural movements in the State that created widespread social awareness and sowed the seeds of radical thinking among the people. Most of the reforms that the state witnessed in the post-independence period in the socio-economic and political fields were possible because of the social background developed in the state as a result of high literacy among the people, particularly among women. In fact, the credit for achieving the highest physical quality of life index (PQLI0) in Kerala as early as 1951 should go primarily to the high female literacy in the State. (Annexure-2)

2. Post Independence scenario of Literacy Development

In Kerala, Adult and Non-formal Education activities began with the formation of the Kerala Gandhasala Sangham (Kerala State Library Council) by organising 47 rural libraries in 1945 under the initiative of Shri.P.N. Panicker and subsequently the number of libraries have increased to 6000. They served as good community centres by organising discussion, seminars, symposiums etc.

The Kerala, Grandhasala Sangham submitted a proposal in 1970 to Govt. of India to open 7000 Literacy Centres in the State. The Govt., of India sanctioned a pilot project to start 20 centres each in two districts. Later sanction was accorded to start 20 more centres in two other districts. In appreciation of the creditable work the Grandhasala Sanghom won the Krupskaya award from UNESCO, in 1975. A number of voluntary agencies came into being during this period, KANFED (Kerala Association for non-formal Education and Development) was the leading one in the field of Non-formal and Adult Education.

Subsequently Rural Functional Literacy Programme (RFLP) was started in five districts Trivandrum, Alappuzha, Thissur, Palakkad and Kannur in 1982-83. The Programme was implemented at the block level and managed by Assistant Development Commissioners. Later RFPL was extended to 11 districts. Simultaneously the Universities of Kerala and Calicut started centres for Adult Education and Extension and they also had literacy centres. National Service Scheme Volunteers were also pooled in to the activities of Adult Education.

The People's Education and Literacy Campaign, Kottayam (PELCK) was started in Kottayam town with the intention to make the town fully literate within a period of 100 days. This venture was commenced with the help of N.S.S. Volunteers of Mahatma Gandhi University. An idea of the campaign for total literacy in Ernakulam, was mooted by Shri.K.R.Rajan, the then District Collector. The proposal was approved by NLM and entrusted the District administration to implement it with the co-operation of Kerala Sastra Sahitya parishad (K.S.S.P) and subsequently District Literacy council was registered for the purpose. The programme commenced on 26th January 1989 and ended on 25th January 1990.

The experiments in Ernakulam and its achievement gave an impetus to enlarge the campaign throughout the state. The total Literacy Programme was formally inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Shri.V.P.Singh on 4th February 1990. The Kerala Saksharatha Samithy (K.S.S.) sponsored by he Govt. of Kerala steered the programme under the Chairmanship of the Cheif Minister. The Project was duly endorsed by the NLM. By using all available infrastructure with the Co-operation of people and the administrative machinery, Kerala was declared as a totally literate State on April 18,1991.

The successful culmination of the TLC in produced over 12 lakhs neo-literates. The Post Literacy Campaign which was aimed at consolidating the gains of TLC and sustaining the achievements of literacy launched on 2nd October 1992. Out of the target group of 12.2 lakhs neo-literates, 4,16 lakhs neo-literates dropped out in the first phase.

The post literacy activities lacked momentum and were becoming a dead-weight. It was in this context the Government ordered in 1996 that the District Saksharatha Samiti this will be handed over to the elected District Panchayaths which were already in position. However, as the PLC had veased to exert any influence, this handing over had not become effective.

In January 1997, a new project for Continuing Education was drawn up, taking into account the changed attitudes and expectations of the community. A successful TLC has made people aware of their rights and privileges and therefore Continuing Education has to suit the socio-economic milieu. Continuing Education has thus been designed as a major Human Resource Development initiate, covering all sections of the society like the neo-literates, rural artisans, women and drop-out children. Besides, the implementation of the programme will follow a highly decentralised model, utilising fully the potential of the 3-tier Panchayaths.

A systematic effort encompassing all areas of women development was made in the mid sixties. In the 1970's however, it became evident that unless women's development needs were specifically addressed, they will continue to lag behind in social and economic sectors and become increasingly marginalised. The report of the Committee on Status of women in India, which made a comprehensive analysis of women's status in developmental framework came out with a series of recommendations for improving the status of women. This has resulted into the creation of separate Bureau of Women's Development in the Department of Social Welfare and in setting up a National Committee with Prime Minister as the Chairman. We now have a separate Department of Women and Child Development, which acts as a nodal point on matters relating to women development.

The Sixth Plan (1980-85) for the first time presented an integrated strategy for women development which emphasised a multi-sectoral approach to the development of women and gave specific attention to inter-linkages. The seventh plan continued the strategy. In recent years, a National Perspective plan for women has been prepared which provides direction for the development of women in various fields.

The National Policy of Education 1986, which updated in 1992 is considered to be a land mark in education, because the policy envisages a dual track approach designed to promote simultaneously adult literacy and primary education with a focus on girls and other disadvantaged groups. There is a pronounced policy shift from equal education opportunity to 'education for gender equality'. It enjoins that the education system should play a positive interventionist role in the empowerment of women, foster the development of new values through revised curriculum and text books provide systematic training and orientation of teachers, decision makers and administrators all through the active involvement of education institutions.

Thus very high priority continued to be given for education and literacy, particularly for female education in Kerala during the post-independence period. Consequently the female literacy rate went up to 86.9 in Kerala by 1991 as against only 39.4 at the All India level. Also, the disparity in the literacy rates of males and females narrowed down to just 7.6, the male literacy rate being 94.5 percent in 1991. While there is a gap of 24.5 percent between the literacy rates of males and females in the country as a whole (Table 1).

Kerala's march towards cent percent literacy came to a successful end by 1991 thanks to the continuous and dedicated efforts of several agencies, both governmental and non-government. Not only in the mater of female literacy that Kerala is in the forefront, but also in the case of enrolment of girls in educational institutions. Kerala has the highest percentage of girls enrolled in educational institutions at all level. In the primary level for example it was 48.7 percent in 1989-90 as against 40.7 at the all India level (Annexure -4).

Kerala's development in the post-independence period is characterised by several unique features, and the one single most important and fundamental factor that contributed to these features has been the high literacy and education level in Kerala, without much gender differences. The achievement of the state in the area of health and family welfare programme have been remarkable and almost at par with the level achieved in developed countries. Among the Indian states Kerala has the highest life expectancy at birth, the lowest birth rate and death rate, the lowest infant mortality rate, the highest PQLI and the highest Human Resource Development Index(HDI). Further Kerala could implement the most successful Land Reforms build up a widespread public distribution system, reduced the urban-rural disparities in social development and implementation of welfare programmes and above all could arouse the political and social conscience of the people. All these commendable progress in health, social amenities, agrarian relations, distributive justice, equality of life etc. which contributed to substantial improvement in the living conditions and status of the people, particularly of women and the poor. This could have achieved only because of the high literacy and education level in the state.

The mid-seventies witnessed the emergence of several women's groups and organisations which have taken up feminist issues from a new perspective. Their activities were not restricted merely to assert women's rights but also made serious attempts to articulate their thoughts on the roots of oppression of women. Moreover, these groups were not guided by any political leader or party. Young educated women took the initiative to form autonomous women's groups. These organisations generated feminist cultural groups and as a result of their strenuous efforts, they could get favourable amendments in the laws relating to women. The Muslim and Christian women have come out challenging their respective personal laws based on religions. More than that, their attention has been turned to the problems of women, social customs, responsibilities of house-work and patronising attitude of male trade union leaders. The high literacy and education level of women is mainly the driving force behind all these developments related to women.

The Challenge Ahead

The experience of Kerala discussed above provides a number of lessons for future actions. We have seen from Kerala's experience that it was the wide-spread literacy and education among women that made possible the state to achieve a unique pattern of development with a humanistic face. It was the commendable achievements of the state in the areas of education, health, public distribution, land reforms and in other service sectors at a relatively low per capita income level that made Kerala's model of development notable and famous and attracted world-wide attention. The economic development with widespread distributive justice, qualitative improvement in the life style and social change achieved by the State, is largely attributable to the literacy and education achievements of women.

The real development not only confined to economic development but also an all-round social development. The lesson to be learned from Kerala's experience is that women's literacy and education is the key to this kind of holistic development, Naturally therefore, women's literacy and education programmes should get the highest priority in out plans in future. The greatest challenge before us therefore is to find enough resources for undertaking massive literacy and education programmes for women during the next one decade with a view to achieve.

(I) Cent percent literacy level for all women in the county and

(II) to educate and equip the women with necessary skill not only to take up gainful employment, but also to participate actively and effectively in the planning and development process of the county. It is really an ambitious task to achieve 100 percent literacy in another one decade's time. But it is not impossible, as can be seen from the experience of Kerala, if we can find enough

resources to launch massive programmes in this area. Taking into consideration the urgency and need for achieving such a target, we should definitely commit ourselves to such a programme. In fact the greatest challenge before us is to get ourselves committed to this noble objective.

There are several other specific challengers before us when we enter into the 21st century. Some of them are delineated below :

1. The 73rd and 74th amendments in the constitution, empowering the local bodies for self-governance under a three-tier Panchayati Raj system, provide provisions for women's reservation in one third of the seats in the Panchayats. This means that from now onwards the women have to play a much bigger role in the nation-building process. One of the important challenges is to prepare them for undertaking new responsibilities. The first pre-requisite for this is to give them suitable education. Their effective participation in Grama Sabha and in other decision making bodies at local level in development matters and day to day governess can be ensured only if they are properly educated and trained. The post-literacy and continuing education programme in the country, particularly in Kerala, should be chalked out with this end in view.

2. A time bound programme for universalisation of primary education among women is an immediate need of the hour. This is the first step for integrating women with the country's development process.

3. The existing scenario of Continuing Education demands diversification and need-orientated programmes for women literacy and development. The process of diversification requires conscious formulation of cultural policy for women and its implementation, keeping in view the expected changes and challenges in the 21st century. Needless to say the literacy and post-literacy projects in India have been resorted to the traditional or conventional method of propaganda and extension education. What is required in Kerala is the introduction of continuing Education Programmes with more thrust on vocationalisation for producing enough technical man power. This is essential for taping the opportunities provided for women in starting self-employment enterprises. There is the need for evolving the intervention strategy suited to the long-felt needs of the different women's group like casual labourers, seasonal labourers, fish-marketers, farm labourers etc. It is desirable to consider the following in this context

(i) Women resource Unit may be started in the State Resource Centre for vocational training and extension support for women groups in terms of seeking assurance from other government agencies. This women Resource Unit should be equipped with a comprehensive and computerised date bank for policy making and for co-ordinating all women development projects

(ii) Work centres for women on a co-operative basis in the rural areas should be encouraged by women's Resource Units with the help of counsellors in Women's Resource Unit.

(iii) A large majority of women, both rural and urban work in the unorganised sectors of the economy where their plight is deplorable. Hence to safe-guard the interests of these less privileged women it is desirable to start Women's Co-operative and credit societies.

(iv) Suitable continuing education programme should be formulated and implemented to articulate and improve necessary skills in women who organise themselves on 'Self-Help' groups for improving their living conditions.

(v) Equal Remuneration Act in both organised and unorganised sectors may be effectively enforced.

(vi) The diverse traditions, cultures, ideals, habits ethnic consciousness and life style of Indian women pose a challenge while planning and implementation development oriented Literacy programme for women.

(vii) The changing value system, expectations, perceptions of religion/ caste groups and linguistic and regional consciousness among people at large and women in particular, are the challenges to be addressed through educational programme.

(viii) Special continuing education programmes for the benefit of the neo-literates SC/ST communities are to be introduced on a time-bound basis to liberate them from further exploitation.

(ix) In Kerala, which already achieved about 100 percent literacy among women, the emphasis in the coming decades should be on programmes that would integrate them with the process of development. Such an integration of women with development process and their active participation in this process are all the more important in Kerala, particularly in the context of the decentralized planning experiment under implementation in the state, known popularly as 'Peoples planning'. The women members of the local bodies in the three-tier system in Kerala awefully need educational inputs to improve themselves and to discharge their new responsibilities effectively. Also, the women in the society, whose active participation and involvement are expected in the 'grama Sabhas' the basic forum of the people's planning, badly need minimum level of understanding, skill and communication capability. The greatest challenge in the continuing education programme in Kerala is how to address this most vital and crucial issue. This challenge could be met only through massive programmes for which Kerala needs necessary resources.

Generous support and co-operation, not only from the Government of India, but also from International agencies and developed countries are called for to meet the above challenges before us. It is, therefore, most desirable that in international forums of the type we have now, the role of International agencies and developed countries in extending support to developing countries in continuing education programme has to be highlighted and discussed. It is unfortunate that this aspect does not find a place in the agenda of this conference. I therefore, conclude this paper with and appeal to the conference to discuss the moral responsibility of International agencies and developed countries in helping the developing countries in their programmes of women literacy and education and the scope for creating a separate International fund called 'Women's Literacy and Education Development Fund' for this purpose.

Table 1.1 Area, population and other demographics partlcularly In Indiaand southern & grates 1991

Area Population % of female popu1ation to total Sex ratio Density

State Sq.Km. Total Female - population

Andhra Pradesh 275045 66508008 32783427 49.29 972 242

Karnataka 191791 44977201 22025284 48.97 960 235

Kerela 38863 29098518 14809523 50.89 1036 749

Tamilnadu 130058 55858946 27559971 49.34 974 429

India 3065027 838583988 403367630 48.10 927 273

(Excluding J & K)

Source - Census 1991

Table - 2.7: Literary rates In India sad Southern States

Census AndhraPradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamfl Nadu India

year Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14.@' is 16

1951 19.7 6.5 13.2 29.1 '9.2 19.3 50.2 31.5 40.7 31.6 10.0 20.8 *24.9. *7.9 *16.6

I961 35.0 14.0 24.6 42.3 16.7 29.8 55.0 38.9 46.8 51.6 21.1 36.4.. 34.5 13.Oi 214.0

1971 33.2 15.8 24.6 41.6 21.0 31.5 66.6 54.3 60.4 51.8 26.9 39.5 39.5 18.7 29.5

1981 39.3 20.4 29.9 48.8 27.7 38.5 75.3 65.7 70.4 58.3 35.0 46.8 46.9 24.8 36.2

1991 55.1 32.7 44.1 67.3 44.3 56.0 93.6 86.2 89.8 73.8 51.3 62.7 c64.1 c39.3 .:c52.2

Table - 2.6: Enrolment of students in India and Southern States (000)

1 987-'88 1 988-89

1 v 7095 3006 42.4 7239 .3066 42.4 7321 3115 42.6

Andhra Pradesh vr vrii 1965 708 36.0 20!14 7114 36.4 2033 729 35.9

ix X 836 279 33.4 880 291 33.1 89). 302 33.9

I v 5371 2429 45.2 5429 2455 45.2 5494 2524 45.9

Karnataka vi Vill 1595 660 41.4 1688 672 39.8 1758 720 111.0

ix X 668 248 37.1 696 263 37.8 764 281 36.8

1 - v 3265 1591 48.7 3225 1567 48.6 3214 1565

Kerala vl - Vill 1711 837 48.9 1688 672 39.8 1824 888

_ix - X 813 412 50.7 888 447 50.3 899 145.1

-T. - v 7474 3436. 46.0 7575 3486 46.0 7678. 3538 46.1

Tamil Nadu vi - viii 2776 11-@10 41.4 2904 I'Z"113 41.8 3033 1276 42.1

ix ~ X 1021 389 38.1 1.062 405 38.1. 1107 424 38.3

1 - v 92944 37775 40.6 95740 38597 4t).3 97318 39587

India. vl - Vill 29915 10706 35.8 30940 11188 36.2 32183 11820

ix - X 12452 3913 31.4 13149 4243 32.3 13789 4486

Source - Selected Educational Statistics

Contact Info:

Dr. P. Madhusoodanan Pillai
Director
State Resource Centre
Kerala