THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The decennial census exercise has thrown up an interesting detail; that Kottayam, Alappuzha and Kollam are special when it comes to reading and writing skills. They are the only districts in Kerala where literacy rates are higher in rural areas than the urban.
97.17 per cent of the rural populace of Kottayam are literate, say Census 2011 Provisional Population Totals on Rural and Urban Distribution released recently. Urban literacy in Kottayam is slightly lower 94.49 per cent. Literates number 96.40 per cent of the total population in the district.
