At 74%, T trails south states, national average in literacy rate | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Telangana’s literacy rate stood at 74.6% in 2025, down from 76.9% in 2023-24 and well below the national average of 80.9%, keeping the state in the bottom of the charts in south India.The state’s literacy rate has fluctuated without a clear upward trend — from 71.5% in 2018-19 to 70.5% in 2019-20, 73.9% in 2020-21, 73.8% in 2021-22, 72.8% in 2022-23, 76.9% in 2023-24 and 74.6% in 2025, according to Periodic Labour Force Survey data.

At 74.6%, Telangana trails Tamil Nadu (87.2%) and Karnataka (83.9%), though it is ahead of Andhra Pradesh (71.4%). The rural-urban divide is even wider with literacy at 66.4% in rural areas against 86% in urban areas, a gap of nearly 20 percentage points.Literacy refers to the ability of people in a population to read and write with understanding in at least one language.Beyond enrolmentInternational Literacy Day, experts attribute the slow progress to school dropouts, the weakening or discontinuation of govt schools, socio-economic disadvantages, implementation gaps and inadequate public spending.Retired Osmania University professor Dr Mrunalini Talla said the issue needs to be assessed beyond enrolment figures. “We need to look beyond enrollment and examine whether children are actually coping with what they are taught. Issues such as dropouts, socio-economic disadvantages and the weakening of the govt-school system can have a bearing on literacy,” she told TOI.Education expert Dr Pratibha Reddy said the bigger concern was whether children were acquiring basic skills despite spending years in school.“Teachers here need upskilling. Not all Telangana districts are doing bad. The urban belts and the areas growing like Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Warangal have actually improved performance as per surveys. Only 6.3% of grade 3 children in rural Telangana could read a grade 2-level text as per the 2024 ASER report. Even in grade 5, it was only 31.5%, while among grade 8 children it was 56.7%. This shows that children can spend years in school without necessarily acquiring age-appropriate reading or writing skills,” she said.Rural roadblocksA govt teacher from Mulugu said poverty, poor awareness and limited access to higher classes continued to push children out of school.“The main drawbacks in rural areas are poverty and lack of awareness about literacy. Many children start doing odd jobs at an early age to earn, as parents feel that ultimately, whether through education or work, they have to earn to feed themselves. There are many dropouts at the school level itself,” he said.He said children in remote villages often have to travel 10-12km to mandal headquarters to continue beyond grade 7. “There are no high schools in villages. So many of them drop out. The govt is taking measures to improve infrastructure and provide travel facilities, but it is still not up to the level. There are no proper toilets, water or electricity facilities in some rural areas, and schools are still in dilapidated conditions,” he said.Urban blind spotTelangana also trails other southern states in urban literacy, with its 86% rate behind Kerala (97%), Tamil Nadu (92.5%) and Karnataka (91.2%).“We will have to prepare a specific plan for urban Telangana. Those who come from rural areas have to be made capable through literacy and education so that they can get integrated. We have not paid any attention to the backlog of illiteracy in Telangana. I have no idea whether there are any programmes for literacy in urban areas. It is so shocking to know how even in the 21st century, we still have a 25% of the population that cannot read or write,” said Shanta Sinha, former chairperson, National Child Protection Unit, Telangana.Officials acknowledged gaps in access and support. P Sarojini Devi, joint director of model schools, department of school education, said: “A lot of students have to come from places far off to study. They do not have proper food and transport facilities to travel to the headquarters of the districts for enrolling in high schools. The breakfast scheme and midday meals have not been implemented fully yet. We are working on it, and also trying to bring in schemes that provide these basic facilities to students.”