Education is of utmost importance for any human being in any sphere of life, and when it comes to playing an important government role, education should be crucial. We always expect that a person representing a huge number of people in Parliament should be well educated. However, sadly it is not always true in reality in India.
As per a report by PRS Legislative Research, around 75 percent of MPs in the Lok Sabha at least have a graduate degree, but on the other hand, 10 percent of them have only passed their 10th-grade level.
More shocking is the fact that 13 percent of MPs elected in the 2014 general elections are not even matriculated, which is considerably higher than the 15th Lok Sabha which had 3 percent of non-matriculate MPs.
However, currently, Lok Sabha has only one illiterate MP, who is a member of the Telugu Desam Party.
Here’s a look at the two biggest parties fighting at the Lok Sabha elections – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, and their members’ educational qualification rates.
BJP has 2 percent each of 5th and 8th grade passed MPs, while the Congress has none. BJP has 10 percent 10th pass MPs compared to 2 percent of the Congress members. BJP has 10 percent 12th pass MPs as well, which is lesser that Congress’ 16 percent.
Then again, BJP has 23 percent MPs with a graduate degree which is more than Congress’ 14 percent only. However, Congress has more graduate professionals like doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants at 25 percent against BJP’s 19 percent of graduate professionals.
The Congress boasts of 34 percent of MPs with a postgraduate degree against BJP’s 25 percent.
However, when it comes to the actual betterment of a constituency, studies have shown that the educational background of an MP might not always impact considerably. Well, educated MPs must be more at ease when it comes to understanding, examining and drafting laws and also identifying problems that require immediate rectification. Nevertheless, a survey conducted in 2014 among voters has shown that voters think that an MP’s educational qualification may not be a guarantee the advancement of education and promotion of literacy in his constituency.
