Explaining the Superior Education Outcomes of Kerala: The Role of State Activism and Historical Endowment. (3rd April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rathore, Udayan; Das, Upasak
• Is Part Of: Oxford development studies. Volume 47:Number 2(2019)
• Page Start: 205
• Page End: 221
• Publication Date: 2019-04-03
• Subjects: Kerala -- census -- state activism -- literacy -- higher education -- historical endowment; Economic development -- Periodicals; Economic policy -- Periodicals; Economic history -- Periodicals; 338.9
• DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2018.1539471
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-0818

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Over time, the state of Kerala has systematically outperformed the rest of India in terms of literacy outcomes, establishing a strong positive record in this respect. Two main, explanations exist for this phenomenon. The first being the unique historical endowment inherited from the pro-education and social policies from the nineteenth century kingdom of Travancore and Cochin (South-Central Kerala) and secondly state activism initiated with the social reforms movement in the late 1950s. Using historical Census data and Employment-Unemployment rounds of the National Sample Survey, we find state activism was critical in achieving mass literacy in Kerala. Though historical endowment established a tradition of competitive demand for education across certain communities which largely explains the existing differences in higher education indicators between the Travancore-Cochin and the Non Travancore-Cochin regions, its contribution to improve education metrics of Scheduled Castes (vulnerable segment) was minimal.