A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF LITERACY DYNAMICS AND EDUCATIONAL SHIFTS: A CASE STUDY IN BISHNUPUR DISTRICT, MANIPUR

Abstract

Literacy is an instrument for individual development in terms of critical thinking, confidence, skills, self-reliance, learning and communication. It enlightens the ignorance offering the right way to achieve their dreams in life by improving problem solving capability and identifying oneself full potential. The study is aiming to find out the literacy trending in rural and urban of Bishnupur district and identifying significant changes. It examines gender gap in literacy rate of the district including both scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes literacy trend and also the sub-divisional variation within the district. This study focuses on census 1951-2011 and primary data through sample survey to analyse literacy trending and variations among male-female, rural-urban and sub-divisions of the Bishnupur district. It is found out that the district has large gap of male and female literacy rate but improving rural-urban disparity. The regional educational expansion matches population growth with adequate staffing but suffers from spatial inequalities, weak oversight, and severe public school infrastructural deficits. This drives a dual pattern in household choice: families fund expensive private schooling through grade 12 for superior quality, and then revert to public higher education due to a total lack of private tertiary options in the district.