Thiurvananthapuram: Ernakulam, Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram districts occupy the top three positions in the development matrix evolved in a study commissioned by the Planning Board. Idukki, Kasargod and Wayanad are at the bottom. However, Thiruvananthapuram district, in spite of its top score, fared poorly in health and education indicators.
The study, carried out by Elphin Tome Joe of CDS, used 25 indicators to generate the matrix and analyse inter-district socio-economic variations in the state. The indicators include health (infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate), educational status (dropout ratios, number of art, science and professional colleges), social factors (suicide rates, road accidents) and economic considerations (per capita income, investment in SSE/MSME sectors, mobile and telephone penetration and tourism arrivals). These indicators were categorised into three separate ‘spaces:’ basic space, social space and economic space.
The basic space refers to health indicators like infant and maternal mortality rates and infection rate and still birth ratio and availability of doctors. The social space refers to education and social indicators like dropout rates, number of professional colleges, suicide rate and road accidents. The economic space refers to per capita income, investments and tourism arrivals.
Thiruvananthapuram performed below average in the basic and social spaces. “The capital performs poorly for the first three indicators of the basic space, namely infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and still birth ratio; a reflection perhaps of the level of inequality in access to medical care for the mother and child,” the study states.
The dropout ratio for LPS in Thiruvananthapuram is high and this pattern is seen in UPS also. However, it is significantly reduced in HPS, indicating that those students who stay within the system beyond UPS continue until they finish their schooling years.
Surprisingly, the SSLC pass percentage for Thiruvananthapuram is one of the worst. “This is shocking considering that Thiruvananthapuram is the capital city and access to quality education would not be generally seen as a problem,” the study notes.
