‘High Percent of Mothers Have No Formal Education’: CNNS

New Delhi: The latest Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) has found that a high percentage of Indian mothers have no formal education. The survey found that the percentage of mothers with no formal education was high across the three age groups, with 31 percent, 42 percent, and 53 percent of mothers of children aged 0-4, 5-9, and 10-19 years, respectively, not having attended school.

According to the survey, only 20 percent of mothers of pre-schoolers, 12 percent of mothers of school-age children, and 7 percent of mothers of adolescents had completed 12 or more years of schooling. The percentage of mothers having completed 12 or more years of schooling varied by state. For mothers of children aged 0-4 years, the highest rates were in Kerala (60 percent) and Tamil Nadu (51 percent), while less than 20 percent of mothers of pre-schoolers had completed more than 12 years of schooling in 16 states. The CNNS was implemented in all 30 states of India during 2016-2018. The CNNS included three population groups - pre-schoolers 0-4 years, school-age children 5-9 years, and adolescents 10-19 years - in rural and urban areas and included a total sample of 38,060 and 38,355 children aged 0-4 years and 5-9 years, respectively, and 35,830 adolescents aged 10-19 years.

The survey has described the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the sample population, including age, sex, place of residence, mother’s schooling, caste, religion, household wealth status and dietary practices. This information is useful for understanding factors affecting the health and nutrition of children and adolescents across the country’s diverse geographies and populations. (IANS)

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