English in India:
1. Only 43.8% of class I kids could read the alphabets, even in big capital letters.
2. Gujarat is the worst with barely 25.3% class 1 children able to read capital letters. Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Jharkhand are only marginally better at 33.4%, 34.5%, 36% and 41.8%.
3. Karnataka, despite its hi-tech glitter, scores just as bad only 37% of class I kids could pass the simple English test.
4. In Kerala, the knowledge of English appeared the best with 85% of kids reading capital letters, West Bengal was way below at 57%.
5. In class V the all-India average of students who can read sentences is 25.7%, by class VIII it goes up to 60.2%.
6. Kerala, In class V only 54.5% children can read English sentences. In Gujarat it is abysmally low at 8%. In Tamil Nadu, only 19% children of class V can read sentences while in Uttar Pradesh it is 14%. Bihar remains more or less consistent at 31.3%.
source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Just-44-Class-1-kids-know-English-alphabets/articleshow/5450240.cms