Socio-Economic Factors in Educational Development: The Case of Nineteenth Century Travancore (Kerala)

Abstract

From Introduction: Kerala, the southern most state of the Indian Union, is widely noted for its high level of literacy. In 1981, with a general literacy rate of 69.17 percent, and male and female literacy rates of 74.03 percent and 64.48 percent respectively, Kerala's position was not only for ahead of the general Indian literacy rate - which was only 36.17j percent, but was also ahead of most other developing countries. What makes the Kerala case more interesting is the fact that such high levels of literacy was achieved with a rather low level of per capita income, of around Rs. 1312 in 1980-81, which was lower than the average Indian per capita Income of Rs. 1571.