Gender Disparity in literacy level among Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe Population – A case Study of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Literacy is an important indicator of socio-cultural development of any region. Male-female gap in literacy is an important indicator of literacy. Gender disparity in literacy affects in all aspects of lives of women .Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribe peoples are always far behind in all social development aspects. The present paper aims to study the Gender disparity in literacy among schedule caste and scheduled tribe population in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. The research work is based on secondary sources of data collected from the District Census Hand Book (2011) of Jalpaiguri district and State Statistical Handbook. Literacy rate has been computed for the population above 6 year and Sopher’s Disparity index modified by Kundu and Rao (1983) has been employed for measurement of male-female disparity among SC and ST population in literacy. The male female disparity in literacy is high in rural area than urban area.