Himayatnagar, which lies in the heart of the city, has the highest literacy rate in the state at 90.03 per cent followed by Keesara and Uppal of Ranga Reddy district. Charminar, mostly occupied by the Muslim minority, scores the lowest in Hyderabad with a rate of 64.84 per cent.
As per the Census of India provisional population 2011, tribal areas and regions which share their borders with states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Naidu and Odisha are highly neglected and show poor literacy level. Tribal areas such as Ghattu mandal of Mahbubnagar is the least literate area in the state with 34.45 per cent literacy rate followed by Kosigi of Kurnool district with 34.97 per cent. Border regions such as Nennal mandal of Adilabad district, Lingampet of Nizambad district, Kalher of Medak district and Sarangapur of Karimnagar district fall below 50 per cent literacy rate.
Mandals including, Chintur, Seethampeta, Pachipenta, G. Madugula, Y. Ramavaram, Bollapalle, and Pullalacheruvu also fall below 50 per cent of the current literacy rate. Y.V. Anuradha, director of Census operations in Andhra Pradesh, said, “We are aiming to set up as many schools in villages and towns in an effort to improve literacy rate at districts level where people are very poor and do not understand the importance of education even now. There has been an improvement in literacy rate in the state in the last few years but there is still a long way to go.” Currently the Andhra Pradesh literacy rate is 67.7 per cent.
The literacy rate in Malkajgiri, a prominent area in Secunderabad, has seen an upward trend registering the second highest growth with 88.06 per cent and Nampally has shot up to 88.05 per cent. Maredpally also fares well with 88.27 per cent followed by Bantwaram of Ranga Reddy district.
A city-based educational expert, Mr M. Srikrishna, says, “People living in backward regions do not understand the importance of education.”