Decoding Myths of Kerala Model.

By Samartha Chakrawarti - September 07, 2021

Is Kerala really a literate state?

Today is 8th September, International Literacy Day, 2021. On this day I choose to talk about India's most literate state, Kerala.

Disclaimer! "My intention behind this blog is not to defame the state or the people of the state but to bring out some facts which mainstream sources and media houses won't tell you".

Kerala is one of the most important states in India, and I too have many friends who belong from Kerala, but there are serious threats that Kerala brings which are directly concerned with the national security of our country.

First of all, Kerala is not a state with 100% literacy, the actual rate is 96.2% which is the highest in the country, but is it true that Kerala’s literacy rate solely depends on its government and people’s awareness?

Let’s find out.

Reasons for Kerala's Highest literacy rate.

1. Beginners Advantage: Kerala’s Literacy rate at the time of independence was already 47% which when compared to Pan India’s Literacy rate was 18%. The second nearest state to Kerala was Maharashtra with a mere 28% and the rate of UP was around 12%. We can clearly see that Kerala was way ahead when compared to other states. But the question which arises is, This 47% was a result of Kerala's exceptional education system or was it something else? This brings us to the second point.

2. Colonial Advantage: During the British era, Missionaries used to come to India and they used to promote Christianity in India and then with the establishment of the East India Company, which led to the establishment of the British colony in India. With this, they started framing education policy in India and setting up schools here.

Now the interesting part is that the impact of Colonial education was on the west coastal region of India because the main source of transportation was ships and boats. Maharashtra, Kerala and the other coastal states of India were the first points of contact for the Britishers. This is why Kerala got the advantage of colonial education.

My next question is why only Kerala when there are other Coastal states too? The answer to this question is that other states had deeper connections with Mainland India and Central India but Kerala was purely a Coastal State and was an accessible point of contact for Britishers. When we compare the scattered impact on other states with Kerala, it is because of their size and their connection with their mainland.

3. Lesser resistance than compared to other states: Post-independence, there was resistance against British education policy and convent schools. However, Kerala faced less resistance because almost half of the population was influenced by colonial education, so it becomes easy for the people to access education when others are already educated.

There are many Intellectuals, Journalists and politicians who use Kerala's literacy rate against other states to make their statements more convincing or to criticize other state’s education systems. But looking at the above facts, we can derive a very easy conclusion that it was not the fault of other states that their population was illiterate because Kerala bagged an additional advantage of being a coastal state.

If states are to compare on the basis of literacy rates then it should be done based on the number of post-independence, not the pre-independence. Here is the number after independence.

Kerala: 47% to 96%.

UP: 13% to 73%

Maharashtra: 28% to 82%

Bihar: 12% to 70%.

From the data I have presented above, we can clearly see that other states have performed better than Kerala in terms of imparting education.

This lands us on another question: Being the most educated state Kerala offers a lot of Problems for India National Security. The biggest problem is ISIS recruitment. For ISIS, Kerala is the Hub for brainwashing youth and women, after Kashmir. Making them agents and terrorists of ISIS and then turning them against India. Many intelligence agencies and DGPs have been trying to make this problem public, that ISIS has been operating in Kerala over the years now.
The second problem is unemployment. Kerala records the unemployment rate at 36% Which is double the national average of India. This unemployment is very reasonable because Kerela has been ruled by only two political ideologies, the first is Congress and then the Communist Party.

Both of these have a socialist policy of economy due to which bringing Investment in Kerala becomes a humongous task. Recently a big clothing company, second in the world, has shifted its operations from Kerala to Tamil Nadu and the reason they have told is Communist policy which does not allow free flow of the market. There have been articles on business websites where it has been stated that Kerala has an urgent need for investment. The reason is the Economic policy of both Congress and Communists.

The third biggest problem is Covid 19: Kerala till date has been proved as the worst-performing state and it accounts for more than half of cases when compared to the whole of India. One of the reasons is very clear which is Muslim vote bank politics and communal decisions of Kerala govt during covid.

This was something I wanted to share and finally, got an occasion. This blog is not against Kerala but an effort to bust the myths. Let us know your thoughts and views in the comments.

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JAI HIND!