Background
According to the 1951 Census of India, the literacy rate in the Madras State was 20.86%. During fiscal year 1950-51, the Madras State Government spent 6.87 crore Rupees (6,870,000) - about 11.5% of total revenues for the state - for Elementary education. The enrollment rate for children of school-going age was around 47.8%. The Directive Principles of the Indian Constitution require the Indian state to provide education to all citizens. In accordance to this directive, in 1950 the Madras State's Directorate of Public Instruction prepared a ten year plan to provide education to all children of school-going age. This plan called for an allocation of one crore Rs (1,00,00,000) per year for enrolling 500,000 additional students for the next ten years. Against this, the actual allocation in 1950-51 was only Rs. 500,000. The cost of educating a student was estimated to be around Rs.22.80 per year, out of which the government's contribution was only Rs.16.30. Out of the 12,22,775 students who had enrolled in standard I in 1946-47, only 4,61,686 (37%) had reached the Standard V in 1950-51. It was against this background, the Congress party with Rajaji as chief minister took power on 10 April 1952.
Read more about this topic: Hereditary Education Policy
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