The State of Education in Malkangiri District of Odisha and Its Impact on the Human Capital Development

Education is not the basis for civilization, it is civilization (Jay Newman, 1977) [1]. To be precise Civilization is the form of development of a community with the changing times evolving psychologically and intellectually at the same time. Education forms the basis on which the community evolves. There is no denying that education can elevate a person’s standard of living which includes health, employment prospects, and income. While states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have definitely shown tremendous growth in literacy rate, States like Odisha and Bihar are still struggling to keep pace with them. Odisha has devised numerous programmes in order to fast-track the literacy rate. According to Census 2011 the literacy rate of Odisha rose to 72.9%. Male and female literacy rates are 83.2% and 67.8% respectively. According to the Human Development Index (HDI) 2017 [2] India scored around 0.640 ranking 130nd among 189 countries while Odisha scored 0.597 and ranked 32nd out of the enlisted 36 States and Union Territories. Despite all the efforts the State was placed among the last 5 positions in the hierarchy. One of the reasons behind this disparity is because of the 8 most backward districts of the country constituting this state. Nuapada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Boudh, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Kalahandi are those 8 rundown districts which demand immediate attention. The HDI of these districts range between 0.12-0.15 making them least developed districts as far Human Capital is concerned. This paper will analyse the nuances of low education level in one of the most backward district of Odisha known as Malkangiri with that of the discrepancies faced by the residents and provide reasonable solution for it.