Literacy in Bihar explained

Bihar has a total literacy rate of 69.7%. The overall male and female literacy rates are 70.32% and 53.57% respectively. The total rural literacy rate is 43.9%. In rural areas of Bihar, male and female literacy rate is 57.1 and 29.6 respectively. The total Urban literacy rate is 71.9. In urban areas of Bihar, Male and Female literacy rate is 79.9 and 62.6 respectively. . Total number of literates in Bihar is 3,16,75,607 which consists 2,09,78,955 Male and 1,06,96,652 Female. Rohtas has highest Literacy Rate of 73.37% followed by Patna (70.68%) and Bhojpur (72.79%). Sitamarhi has lowest Literacy Rate of 51.08% followed by Purnea (51.18%) and Katihar (52.24%). A recent survey by Pratham rated the receptivity of Bihari children to their teaching as being better than those in other states. Bihar is striving to increase female literacy, now at 53.3%. At the time of independence, women's literacy in Bihar was 4.22%.

The state's low literary rates stem from the regions complex educational challenges. Education in Bihar significantly lags behind other states in India.

Growth in Literacy Rate

**Literacy Rate from 1951~2011**^[1]
Year	Total	Males	Females
1951	13.45	22.68	4.22
1961	21.98	35.85	8.11
1971	22.86	35.86	9.86
1981	31.86	47.11	16.61
1991	36.68	51.37	21.99
2001	46.94	60.32	33.57
2011	61.35	71.20	51.50

Anubhav

**Education in Bihar** ^[2]
Level	Total	Male	Female
Literate with education	1,715,049	1,109,731	605,318
Below Primary	7,890,329	4,754,137	3,136,192
Primary	8,334,709	5,130,917	3,203,792
Middle	4,390,226	3,012,151	1,378,075
Secondary	4,751,560	3,439,918	1,311,642
Higher Secondary	1,826,093	1,385,282	440,811
Technical Diploma	24,989	20,088	4,901
Non-technical Diploma	48,532	40,458	8,074
Graduate & above	2,109,415	1,737,651	371,764
Unclassified	18,675	14,043	4,632

Literacy in Districts

Districts of Bihar! colspan="3"
Total	Gender wise		Total	Gender wise		Total	Gender wise
2011	2001			1991
Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female
West Champaran				39.63	51.91	25.85	27.99	39.62	14.41
East Champaran				42.74	67.90	74.47	44.41	58.49	85.45
Sheohar				37.01	45.54	27.43	26.18	36.36	14.34
Sitamarhi				39.38	51.02	26.35	28.49	39.86	15.49
Madhubani				42.35	57.26	26.56	33.22	48.49	16.75
Supaul				37.8	53.23	21.02	28.11	40.96	13.74
Araria				34.94	46.5	22.14	26.19	36.99	14.01
Kishanganj				31.02	42.8	18.49	22.22	33.12	10.38
Purnia				35.51	46.16	23.72	28.52	38.92	16.8
Katihar				35.29	45.51	24.03	28.7	39.24	16.88
Madhepura				36.19	48.87	22.31	27.72	39.31	14.41
Saharsa				39.28	52.04	25.31	29.98	42.37	15.83
Darbhanga				44.32	57.18	30.35	34.94	48.31	20.09
Muzaffarpur				48.15	60.19	35.2	36.11	48.44	22.33
Gopalganj				48.19	63.81	32.81	34.96	51.62	17.75
Siwan district				52.01	67.67	37.26	39.13	57.51	21.33
Saran				52.01	67.81	35.74	41.79	60.18	22.71
Vaishali				51.63	64	38.14	40.56	55.62	24.08
Samastipur				69.76	80.83	90.69	60.37	76.39	85.17
Begusarai				48.55	59.71	36.21	36.88	48.66	23.52
Khagaria				41.56	52.02	29.62	32.33	42.97	19.79
Bhagalpur				50.28	60.11	38.83	41.84	53.41	28.11
Banka				43.4	56.28	29.1	34.55	48.17	18.99
Munger				60.11	70.68	47.97	52.25	64.95	37.07
Lakhisarai				48.21	60.97	34.26	39.4	53.12	23.48
Sheikhpura				49.01	62.56	34.13	40.92	55.43	24.41
Nalanda				53.64	66.94	39.03	46.95	61.95	29.97
Patna				63.82	73.81	52.17	56.33	69.07	41.35
Bhojpur				59.71	74.78	42.81	48.18	66.35	27.95
Buxar				57.49	72.82	40.36	33.49	62.94	25.74
Kaimur				55.57	70.57	38.9	39.35	55.68	20.69
Rohtas				62.36	76.54	46.62	48.52	64.5	30.29
Jehanabad				56.03	70.9	40.08	45.83	63.11	26.81
Aurangabad				57.5	71.99	42.04	45.14	61.8	26.67
Gaya				61.07	73.81	47.4	50.47	65.22	34.2
Nawada				47.36	61.22	32.64	38.96	54.85	21.82
Jamui				42.74	57.1	26.92	33.41	48.48	16.41

Key data

Literacy
- In Absolute Numbers- 5,96,75,607
  - Male - 3,99,78,955
  - Female - 1,97,96,652
- Percentage of Total Population -69%
  - Male - 70.32%
  - Female - 53.57%
- Percentage of Urban Population -81.9%
  - Male - 89.9%
  - Female - 72.6%
- Percentage of Rural Population -53.9%
  - Male - 67.1%
  - Female - 39.6%
- Highest Literacy Rate
  - Rohtas - 75.59%
- Lowest Literacy Rate
  - Purnia, 52.49%

References

Web site: Census Statistics for Bihar . 2008-10-03 . 2008-05-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080524094302/http://gov.bih.nic.in/Profile/CensusStats-03.htm . dead .
Web site: Census of India - Literates and educational level.