Andaman and Nicobar Islands Primary Schools

Andaman and Nicobar Islands primary schools are the very backbone of the education of the Union Territory in India, that has seen a steep growth in the overall literacy rate. The literacy rate of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a mammoth 75 per cent, higher than many other states of the more privileged regions of the Indian mainland. The results of the National Sample Survey Organization was all the more surprising, who rated the literacy rate at an unbelievable 97 per cent, the highest in the whole of India. The role of the primary schools at Andaman and Nicobar Islands went a long way in achieving this target.

Primary Education Profile of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The system of primary schools in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is much the same as is followed in the entire country. However, what surprises one is the sheer reach that Andaman and Nicobar Islands primary schools have managed to reach. It should be remembered in this context, that disseminating education in the remote islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is not the easiest of tasks. However, the good will of the government of the area and the various departments has managed to do the impossible. Andaman and Nicobar Islands primary schools have been successfully established in even the most impenetrable stretches of the island. The literacy rate that was languishing in the lower 30 percent in the early 1960s has rose up to a staggering 70 percent in the early 1990s. No doubt a great segment of the rural and tribal areas have been successfully brought under the folds of formal education. The role of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands primary schools cannot be denied in this context.

Profile of Andaman and Nicobar Primary Schools

The total number of primary schools of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is 213, which is a considerable number given that only about forty odd islands are inhabited and many of them have an exclusively tribal population who have been traditionally wary of the formal educational structure of the state.