Gender Disparity in Literacy Level among Scheduled and Non-scheduled Population: A Case Study of Bankura District, West Bengal (India)
Krishnendu Maji & Dr. Sumana SarkarGender disparity in the level of literacy and educational attainment of scheduled and non-scheduled population may be the ‘cause and the effect’ of the differentials between their levels of socio-economic conditions and cultural orientation. In Bankura district, educational development has taken place unevenly in terms of gender and social groups. Even within the same segments of population, varying socio-economic status make a difference which gets further influenced by local regional characteristics at different level. Bankura district ranks at 11th among 19 district of West Bengal (Human Development Report, 2006) with a high concentration of socio-economically backward social groups i.e., scheduled population comprising the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population with 32.65 per cent and 10.25 per cent respectively. Though the overall literacy rate of the district stands at 70.26 per cent but literacy rate among SC is just 53.30 per cent and the proportion is 59.18 per cent in case of STs. In comparison to national average of gender disparity in literacy (16.3 per cent, 2011 census), the district scores high i.e., 20 per cent gender gap with male and female literacy rate of 80.05 and 60.05 per cent respectively. This gender-gap is far more widening among SCs (23.82 percent) and STs (26.98 per cent). In this context, present study deals with the detailed overview of female literacy and gender gaps in educational attainment among scheduled and non-scheduled communities in a comparative framework.