Regional disparities in literacy levels were rightly emphasised in the recent Jammu and Kashmir Finance Commission report, with Jammu having achieved a literacy rate of 73% and Kashmir only 65%. However, this note argues that differences between districts and education zones, and more importantly, between different socio-economic groups are more real and sizeable. These can be traced to high dropout rates among schoolchildren, owing to the numerous direct and indirect effects of over two decades of conflict.
