Women and Marriage

ILLITERACY PROBLEM

It is a country where the population will reach one billion people by the next century, while only one-third of them will be able to read. Due to various social and economic problems India's education program continues to be undercut. Of the biggest victims of the educational system are those living in rural areas. The attitudes of the children and teachers also affect the quality of the schools. Allocation of government funds and the conditions of the destitute rural schools contribute to the low quality of education by rural children. While there are many rural area school systems which are operating in poor conditions there is one in particular whose schools outperform most other rural schools and also those located in wealthy areas of India. Consequently, Kerala, a rural state of India remains a puzzle to many educators. Its illiteracy rate does not follow the trend of most rural schools.

Many children living in rural areas receive a level of education which is very poor. Overall enrollment in primary and middle schools are very low. Fifty percent of children living in these areas leave school before the fifth grade (Tefft, 12) These children leave school for variety of reasons: some leave because of lack of interest; most leave so that they can work in the fields, where the hours are long and the pay is low. A large percent of the dropouts are females. Forced by their parents, most girls perform chores and tend the family at home. These are some of the reasons why sixty percent of all females in India are illiterate, a figure much higher than those of males.

OVERPOPULATION

India is the second most populated country on this planet and is on it's way to being number one within the next fifty years. The government is very concerned about the size of India's population and has focused tremendous amounts of energy into combating India's growth. They feel this is the best way to deal with India's high poverty rate (35%). However, the...