58 SOCIAL SCIENTIST It is evident that the sheer quantum of schools available is inadequate (in relation to the population) at the primary stage itself. The urban population, however, has an edge over rural India in the relative magnitude of facilities for schooling, the number of teachers and so on. Moreover, official statistics do not reflect the existence of a minority of elite, 'private* fee paying schools which cater to the top 5-10 per cent of the population in the cities. These include the 'public schools' that continue to be patronised by the urban elite.3 RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOLING The overwhelming majority of rural children (857 lakhs) who do not attend schools, include 480 lakh boys and 377 lakh girls. The age specific school attendance rates given in Table 2 are extremely low, particularly»for girl children. They clearly reveal that over 70 per cent of rural children are still not covered by schools. The majority of children aged 5-14 years are in primary schools. While 62 per cent boys and 63.9 per cent girls in primary schools are within the 5-9 years age group, a significant proportion are over 10 years of age. The latter could be either due to late entry in schools (after age 6), stagnation (repetition of a class) or failure (inability to clear the exam.)4 Table 2 Percentage of rural children attending schools in each age group—1981 Age Group % Children % of school goers * attending schools attending primary school Boys Girls Boys Girls 5-9 39.8 25.9 62.0 63.9 10 - 14 57.6 29.3 38.0 36.1 5-14 48.3 27.4 100.0 100.0 * These are percentages of primary school children who fall in each age group. Source: Census, 1981 Among the communities that lag behind most, both in literacy and accessibility to schools are the scheduled castes and tribes. In 1981, the literacy rate among SC was 21 per cent while among ST, it was only 16.4 per cent. In contrast, communities other than the SC and ST had a literacy rate of 41.3 per cent (Census, 1981). Even though the number of SC and ST students have increased over the years, they still form a very small proportion of the total number of students. This is particularly so at the higher stages of education as seen in Table 3.