What Promotes and Sustains the Growth of Female Literacy in Himachal Pradesh: An Empirical Study

Women constitute almost 50 percent of the country human resources and their contribution is vital for the progress of nation. Female is both the beneficiary of the development and contributor to the economy. The status of woman has gone through many changes since independence. With time her place in the society has also changed. Earlier she was trained only to become a good house wife, but now she has become a key component in the development of society. Women education is one of the most important indices of overall development and growth of a society. It directly influences the age of marriage, life expectancy, participation in family income and above all economic empowerment and well being of a woman. Himachal Pradesh has made a considerable progress in the matter of female literacy. The government of Himachal Pradesh has taken number of steps in order to raise literacy in general and women in particular. According to Census 2001, the state literacy rate is fourth highest with 68.10 percent among the states and the rate of growth of female literacy in Himachal Pradesh has been the highest as compared to Kerala, her neighborhood states like Haryana, Punjab and also the national average between 1971 to 2001 (Himachal Pradesh Development Report). The government of Himachal Pradesh endorsed female literacy through its plans, policies and programmes. Social factors like parent’s motivation, age of marriage and economic independence of female also facilitates their education. Even though the literacy rate in Himachal Pradesh has expanded rapidly, the gender gap in literacy remains conspicuous by its presence. Also we notice that though the girl’s enrolment is very high at primary level, the dropout rate is very high among girls at higher level of education. In this paper we will attempt to recognize and investigate in detail the factors that have facilitated and fostered the growth of women education in Himachal Pradesh and also to understand in details the various reasons for the higher dropout rate and gender gap in literacy.