Literacy and Educational Status of Scheduled Caste in Jharkhand

The scheduled castes (SC) population are relatively more illiterate and less educated than the general population in India, despite the constitution and government providing them with numerous social and economic safeguards. This study attempts to explore the current status of literacy and education among the scheduled castes population of Jharkhand along with the gender disparity in their literacy and education using the secondary data from Census and UDISE. The findings highlight that though there is an increasing trend in the literacy rate among the SC population, but a significant gender disparity is pronounced among the scheduled caste population in Jharkhand. However, on a positive note, the GER of girls is higher than the GER of boys at every level of schooling among scheduled castes. Simultaneously, the dropout rates increased sharply from primary to secondary schools. That reflects that a large number of SC students are not able to pursue higher education.

Keywords:
Scheduled castes, Literacy rates, Gender disparity, Education, Dropout.