2. ABSTRACT
The present project focuses on the particular state of West Bengal and its districts to understand
its educational backwardness among the economically deprived sections of the society. The
whole analysis will try to throw some light on the literacy development in the state covering its
districts and the Educatinally Backward Blocks(EBBs) on the basis of secondary data. In the
process of analysis, the Methodology of correlation has been adopted to assess the relationship
between concentration of SC/ST with their literacy rate district wise, % enrolment and the
number of govt. aided schools, overall literacy rate and Gender Poverty Index(GPI) of the various
districts for the period between 2001 and 2011. Apart from this , percentage change analysis has
been attempted for determining the associated factors of educational variation and deprivation
among the deprived female for this state. The project finds Occupational Diversification, Female
Work Participation Rate(WPRF), Gender Disparity, Inter-Religious Inequality, Govt. Aided
School Availibility as the factors explaining the literacy rate among the economically deprived
sections of the State.
3. OBJECTIVE
Since the SC, ST and the female (especially the Muslims) are the most affected and
illiteracy prevails mostly among these categories , so we try to check the extent of
literacy prevalent among these economically deprived sections of the society. Various
Government measures have been taken in order to increase more participation of
these groups. However, we want to check that whether the implementation of the
various government measures in the country have been able to fulfill its goals and in turn
acheive its set of targets.
Following govt schemes have been undertaken by the Indian Government to achieve its
goals:
• National Literacy Mission - i) Total Literacy Campaign, ii) Post Literacy Programme,
iii) Continuing Education Programme, iv) Non- Governmental Organisation, v)
Women Empowerment Programme.
• Sarva Siksha Abhigyan
• Non- Governmental Efforts
• Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation
4. DEFINATION OF LITERACY
Two general definitions are provided:
•"able to read and write," and
•"versed in literature or creative writing...having knowledge or competence” There is also
provision for visual literacy, defined as "the ability to recognize and understand ideas
conveyed through visible actions or images (as pictures).“
•Literacy rate: The total percentage of the population of an area at a particular time
aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding. Here the
denominator is the population aged seven years or more.
•Crude literacy rate: The total percentage of the population of an area at a particular
time aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding, taking the
total population of the area (including below seven years of age) as the denominator.
Crude Literacy Rate = Number of literate persons x 100
Total population
Effective Literacy Rate= Number of literate persons aged 7 and above x100
Population aged 7 and above
5. METHODOLOGY
•The present study is exclusively based on secondary data which has been collected
from Planning Commission, Census of India, Department of School Education Report,
and DISE. The study mainly considers the time period from 2001 to 2011 and the
literacy rate among the economically deprived section of society among the various
districts of west Bengal .
•The study mainly focuses on the economically deprived section of the society so we
concentrate on the Educationally Backward Blocks ( EBBs) which are particular districts
sanctioned by the Govt. Of India where female literacy rate is below the national
average and the gender gap in literacy is more than the national average. When we
calculate the mean and variance among the SC the ST literacy rate in EBBs and Non-
EBBs from table 4A, and we can see low mean and high variance among the EBBs
which makes it more acceptable for the zone where we can study the literacy trend
among the economically deprived section and can determine the total requirement of
intervention by the Govt.
•Average which is the arithmetic mean is calculated by adding a group of numbers and
then dividing by the count of those numbers.
6. •Variance is a measure of the variation or dispersion of the variable x about its mean
value.
•A correlation is a single number that describes the degree of relationship
between two variables and thus helps to determine the factors affecting. The
present study shows the correlation between variables like the percentage
enrolment and the number of govt. aided schools, the overall literacy rate and
GPI giving us an idea about the linkage between these variables.
•Gender Parity Index(GPI) = Girl’s enrolment in primary grades in year ‘t’
Boy’s enrolment in primary grades in year‘t’
•
•Section 2 shows the govt. policy targets to study whether the govt. aided
schools had a positive impact on the SC/ST enrolment we also find correlation
between these two variables.
•% SC enrolment = Enrolment of SC in primary classes , similarly for % ST
Total enrolment in primary classes enrolment
•For looking closely at the literacy among the poor, a primary data survey has
been presented later in the project. The primary data gives some findings about
the male and female literacy among the SC, ST and the Muslims.
•All the pie charts , bar diagrams, column diagrams as well as the calculations
of mean, variance and correlation has been done by using of Microsoft Office
8. PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF MUSLIM POPULATION IN WEST BENGAL
DISTRICT
N 24 PARGANAS,
24.22
SOUTH
DINAJPUR,
24.02
BURDAWAN, 19.78
KOLKATA, 20.27
OTHERS, 57.26
MURSHIDABAD, 63.67
MALDA, 49.72
NORTH DINAJPUR,
47.36
BIRBHUM, 35.08
S 24 PARGANA, 33.24
NADIA, 25.41
HOWRAH, 24.44 COOCHBIHAR,
24.24
HOOGHLY
SOUTH DINAJPUR
MEDINIPUR (E & W)
COOCHBIHAR
NADIA
DARJEELING
67.31
63.61
61.39
61.33
60.78
58.13
54.36
50.97
50.27
47.11
46.96
45.01
44.03
42.76
38.68
37.92
34.14
58.13
67.21
77.3
60.95
54.28
70.11
71.72
64.42
51.55
59.01
56.12
49.43
52.21
59.58
47.63
41.25
62.94
36.5
71.72
MUSLIM WOMEN OF WEST BENGAL AN
ENQUIRY INTO THEIR MINORITY STATUS
GENERAL FEMALE POPULATION MUSLIM FEMALE POPULATION
9. WORK PARTICIPATION RATE AMONG MUSLIM WOMEN IN WEST BENGAL
DISTRICT
ALL OVER WEST
BENGAL, 13.99
MALDA, 28.23
PURULIA, 21.88
BANKURA, 25.86
NORTH DINAJPUR,
21.09
JALPAIGURI, 20.02
COOCHBIHAR,
20.64
MURSHIDABAD,
16.69
MEDINIPUR(
E & W),
12.52
DARJEELING,
10.08
SOUTH DINAJPUR,
14.94
BIRBHUM, 11.91
SOUTH 24
PARGANAS, 7.53
HOOGHLY,
11.14
HOWRAH, 7.57
NORTH 24
PARGANAS, 8.67
NADIA, 12.1 BURDAWAN,
9.77
KOLKATA, 7.24
1 ALL SCHEDULED
TRIBES
9%
2 SANTAL
9%
3 ORAON
9%
4 MUNDA
9%
5 BHUMIJ
9%
6 KORA
9%
7 LODHA
7%
8 MAHALI
9%
9 BHUTIA
15%
10 BEDIA
10%
11 SAVAR
5%
LITERACY RATE OF ST
13. FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION
•Though the literacy rate of West Bengal has always been higher than all India average,
the literacy status of SC, ST and female section is significantly worse, especially in rural
West Bengal .
•Puruliya and Uttar Dinajpur have a dense SC and ST population and uniformly
maintained a poor literacy rate over the last decade. There appears some regional
imbalance in distribution of the facilities provided by government.
•The correlation with the govt. aided schools and the districts with lower enrolment
percentage of SC have lower value than the correlation between the schools and the
district with high enrolment percentage. This shows that the districts with low enrolment
may have better access to the NGOs than the govt. sponsored schools.
•The similar type of correlation with the ST enrolment showed a negative
relation with the district with high enrolment percentage and a positive relation
are more dependent on the missionaries.
•The introduction of the mid-day meal policy has greater impact on the increase
of the SC/ST enrolment in recent years.
•In recent years the retention rate has improved for both the SC and ST in the
primary level. However, in the upper primary level ST dropout rate has
increased. So there is a limit in the access of higher education, which in turn
means restriction in exploiting their potential.
•Various govt. initiatives namely NPEGEL and KGBVs has actually brought in a
positive change in female enrolment both in primary and upper primary levels.
14. CONCLUSION
This project examined the literacy rate among the economically deprived sections of the
society particularly in West Bengal. In this project we have seen that there has been to
some extent a positive change in the school participation rate among the SC, ST and
females, considering all the policy implementation of the Government in this regard.
However, the government policies at the same time could not fulfil all its goals and
targets. Though the overall literacy level in west Bengal is not so bad 68.64 percent
against the national average of 64.85 percent. Even then according to the Census of
India 2001, the literacy rate among the Muslims is 59.1 percent far below the national
average of 65.1 percent. Thus, the project findings support the need for the government
review of its education policies and system. In turn the government should adopt such
policies so as to lessen the deprivation and economic backwardness to some extent
among these groups as soon as possible. Again many districts like Puruliya, Uttar
Dinajpur , Birbhum , Bankura, Murshidabad remain least affected by these policies as
the literacy rate is low among the SC and ST. Whereas, female especially muslim
women are hard hit literacy wise in the districts of Puruliya, Uttar Dinajpur, Malda,
Murshidabad similar is the scenario for SC/ST women. This can be solved by the
introduction of KGBVs in such districts with rapidity. More govt. aided schools must
reach those districts or the EBBs where the concentration of SC and ST population is
high. This will in turn increase their participation in primary and upper primary schools.
Mid-Day Meal programmes should also be introduced in all govt. aided schools in order
to further encourage such groups. Early dropouts at primary level should be checked.
15. AKNOWLEDGEMENT
Since the time I started my research work on the project, I have benefited a lot from the
useful inputs and suggestions of all our professors and I would like to mention them
without whose guidance I would not have been able to complete my project. I would
like to very gratefully acknowledge all our Associate Professors for their extended
support .
I would also like to acknowledge WEST BENGAL STATE UNIVERSITY for giving us
the opportunity to work on the project as part of our course work. Through this project I
have gained a lot of valuable knowledge regarding the field of data collection, analysis of
data and its presentation to name a few.
