drop-out rates and literacy of scheduled castes and...

Drop-out Rates and Literacy of Scheduled Castes and General Castes

Population: A Case Study of Bilaspur Chhattisgarh

1 Dr.Narendranath Guria, 2 Mrs Tulu Mandal

1 Asstt.Prof. Geography, Chaitanya College, Pamgarh , Janjgir Champa, Chhattisgarh pin 495554 2 Asstt Teacher Hareknagar AM Institution Beldanga. Murshidabad. WB

Abstract

Literacy level and educational attainment are vital indicators of development of any society. In spite of

many socio-economic securities provided to scheduled castes in the constitution and by the government,

scheduled castes are still comparatively illiterates and less educated than general category. This could be

attributed to a variety of reasons such as early age marriage, high female illiteracy due to importance to male

child, child labour, superstition, dominance of higher castes, and deprivation from socio-economic status etc.

Education is an important variable affecting demographic behaviour concerning marriage, fertility, mortality,

migration as well as participation in labour force. In a number of research studies, a clear cut negative

relationship has been established between the educational level of women and fertility.

Keynotes: Drop-out Rates, Literacy rate, socioeconomic situation

Introduction

The age of females at marriage is also affected by the educational attainment of females. Even infant

mortality is found to be affected by the educational status of mother. Thus there is a need to study on literacy

and educational attainment of scheduled castes of Bilaspur area and to give suggestions for their educational

development.Prevalence of caste system in India is one of the most discriminatory forms of social stratification.

The stratification system and subsequent hierarchy and divisions are based on birth rather than on occupation.

In fact, this inscriptive form of difference determines the life chances and entitlements of an individual in Indian

society, irrespective of one’s individual initiative, aptitude, educational attainment or skills acquired during the

working life. As a result, beyond the boundary of individual achievements and aspirations, benefits and burdens

of society are shared by groups on the basis of family and caste lines. This has, in turn, created two definite

groups, the privileged, twice born upper castes and the downtrodden or lowly classes.

Object of the Study

1 The literacy and educational status of scheduled caste and General,

2 The subsequent sections dealt with impact of post independence efforts. In the last section an attempt has also

been made to assess the sex disparity in literacy within scheduled caste and

3 Find out the drop-out rates for the Scheduled Caste children and non-scheduled population.

International Journal of Research

Volume 7, Issue XII, December/2018

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Page No:324

Work Methodology

Research Design

This research is based on descriptive research design. This research is descriptive because the

socioeconomic situation, culture, origin of caste ethnic and other related issues of poverty in the SC community

were described and presented on the basis of facts revealed by data (Kothari C. R). This research is qualitative in

this sense that most of the information was taken on the basis of field observation and focus group discussion.

Method of Data Analysis

The data collected through various techniques (Household survey, observation, key in for Bilaspur,

FGD, case study) were systematically processed and analyzed in different steps. First of all, crude data was

processed or edited with verification. Secondary the edited data was divided in qualitative and quantitative data

category, Thirdly quantitative data was tabulated with simple tabulation methods and process analyzed by

using bar-graph, line graph, pie-chart, tables and percentage analysis etc.

Sources of Data

The study applied both primary as well as secondary data. The primary data was gathered from field

survey and taking interview with respondents. Secondary data was obtained from published and unpublished

sources like, books of Bilaspur collection central library ,, Journals, Articles and previous related studies,

National planning commission, In this way nature of data information was both qualitative as well as quantities.

Qualitative information was collected through depth cases study of real situation of different victimized people,

observing their living activities. In the same way quantitative data was collected through different offices.

Sampling Design

There are 7 Block in Bilaspur area among them were selected purposively. Total population of SC

community in these four 320 households, the total household of SC in this way, out of 320, 100 households

were selected randomly which was nearly 32 percent of total households.

Techniques and Tools of Data Collection

Different techniques and tools was used to collect the information in this study .According to the

requirement of the study some techniques and tools have been used. They are as follows:

Household Survey Techniques

Household survey has been conducted in the SC community of Bilaspur area. The technique applied to

get personal identification, population composition of family, family size, religion, education, caste.

Distribution Population, Literacy, Economy and landholding family income, age, sex composition, number and

types of livestock and origin of this caste.



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Observation Technique

There are two types of observation like direct and indirect observation. In this study only indirect

observation was applied (Dennis, Nancy). Education system, health condition, toilets. Surrounding and condition

of their settlement were observed to make research more effective and real. Checklist was used to observe the

settlement of this community (Krishnan, S. Raju).

Interview Technique

This technique was applied to get historical information about the origin of SC caste. Interviews were

mainly taken with ten key in for Bilaspur. The key in for Bilaspur were history teachers, old experiences people

of different villages, saints and officer of SC commission of Bilaspur. Key in for Bilaspur is Interview Schedule

was used to collect information from them.

Basic Information about Education of the Scheduled Castes

The Scheduled Caste population of India constitutes 16.3% of the total population (2011 Census). The

overall literacy rate for Scheduled Castes increased from a mere 2.3% in 1941 to 54.7% in 2011. Despite this

impressive increase in the literacy in 2011, it remained less than the corresponding general literacy rate of India

(65.6%). The perpetuation of inequalities even in terms of basic ability to read and write is thus alarmingly

high. A look into the basic statistical information shows that the drop-out rates of the Scheduled Caste children

are still high and the gross enrolment ratio is just satisfactory. During the year 2007-08, the (Gross Enrolment

Ratio) in the classes I-V was 124.93, for classes VI-VIII, it was 80.17, and for the classes I-VIII, it was 108.35

for the Scheduled Caste children (See Table). The GER remained satisfactory for the Scheduled Caste children

in the classes I-V with 124.93 but for the classes VI-VIII, it was low with 20.17. The drop-out rates for the

Scheduled Caste children was 30.09 in the classes I-V, but it is very high with 52.47, in the classes I-VIII are

taken together and still higher, that is, 68.42, if it is taken for classes I-X. There is a higher drop-out rate in the

higher classes.

Table No. 1

Bilaspur Area: Enrolment Ratios of General Population and Scheduled Castes

Gross Enrolment

Ratio

General Population Scheduled Castes

Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

I – V 115.26 112.58 113.97 125.51 124.31 124.93

VI – VIII 81.48 74.36 78.06 82.67 78.08 80.17

I - VIII 102.36 98.02 100.28 109.31 107.30 108.35

Source: Field survey, 2018



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Table No. 2

Bilaspur Area: Drop-out Rates of General Population and Scheduled Castes

Drop-out Rates General Population Scheduled Castes Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

I – V 25.70 24.41 25.09 34.37 24.52 30.09

I – VIII 43.72 41.34 42.68 53.56 51.12 52.47 I - X 56.55 57.33 56.71 68.05 68.90 68.42


The Sample State of Bilaspur covered in the Study

The state of Bilaspur has a Scheduled Caste population of 32.50 lakhs (1991) and it has increased to

40.91 lakhs during (2011), thus constituting 19.3% Scheduled Caste population. The state of Bilaspur stands 5th

in rank for its Scheduled Caste population in the entire country. The literacy rate for the state of Bilaspur is 67.9

% (70.8 for General and 55.4 for Scheduled Castes). The literacy rate of the state for the Scheduled Castes was

39.2 % during 1991 and increased to 55.4 % (Male: 66.9 and Female: 42.3) during 2011. A look into the GERs

of various levels of primary education in the state of Bilaspur and particularly that of the Scheduled Castes, it

will be observed that for classes I-V, it is 119.98 and for classes VI-VIII, it is 81.37 which is low and in case of

girls, it is 83.23. While the drop-out rates for the Scheduled Caste children in classes I-V is 9.02,( table 2)it is

very high at the middle levels and the overall drop-out rate for classes I-X together is 60.33. The drop-out

among the girls remains to be higher with 63.93 and for boys, it is 57.10.

Bilaspur Area: Drop-out Rates of General Population and Scheduled Castes

Fig No. 1 Drop-out Rates of General Population and Scheduled Castes

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

General Population Scheduled Castes

I – V

I – VIII

I - X

po

pu

lati

on

IndexDrop out rate



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Table No. 3

Bilaspur Area: Enrolment Ratio of General and Scheduled Caste Children

Gross Enrolment

Ratio

General Population Scheduled Castes Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

I – V 87.61 93.78 90.40 115.65 125.08 119.98

VI – VIII 75.36 76.08 75.69 79.82 83.23 81.37 I - VIII 82.92 86.97 84.76 102.14 109.42 105.47


Table No. 4

Bilaspur Area: Drop-out among General and Scheduled Caste Population

Drop-Out Classes General Population Scheduled Castes Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

I – V 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.92 6.87 9.02

I - VIII 4.53 8.75 6.50 26.35 29.61 27.89 I - X 33.99 39.15 36.43 57.10 63.93 60.33


Education Levels of Parents and Schooling of Girls

The data relating to educational levels of parents as well as girl children in the village was collected in

order to understand their levels of participation in the school. Data was collected from all the households, this

provided information relating to levels of education of parents, both father and mother. It will be observed from

the the heads of households, most particularly among the male members, around 24.5% are illiterate; 19.5%

studied up to primary levels of schooling; 20.7% of the heads of households studied up to middle levels; 24.1%

studied up to secondary level and very few studied beyond senior secondary and undergraduate levels (Sharma,

C.K.) Majority of heads of households, particularly belonging to Scheduled Castes families had very limited

schooling and either remained illiterate or pursued schooling only up to primary and middle levels of schooling

(Barak, V.K. and Binay M. Lakra) .

The heads of the families belonging to the other caste groups had also not pursued higher studies and

had studied up to secondary schooling only. The status of most of the heads of households covered in the study

shows that 50.6% of the heads of the households are working as agricultural labourers and 28.7% are working

as daily wage labourers. And 33.7% of the households could spend only up to Rs.2,000/- per month on food etc.



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Table No. 5

Bilaspur Area: Head of the Family – Education Status

Education Status –

Head of the Family

No. of Heads of

Households

% of Heads of

Households

Illiterate 64 24.5

Primary 51 19.5

Middle 54 20.7

Secondary 63 24.1

Senior Secondary 14 5.4

Undergraduate 8 3.1

Others 7 2.7

Total 261 100.0


The level of education among women of this village is much grimmer; majority of them are illiterate and

the very concept of educated mothers can educate their children better fails here in this village. About 62.5 per

cent of the women in the households, both from other castes as well as the Scheduled Castes, had not at all

participated in schooling and remained hard core illiterates and had no knowledge whatsoever of education and

schooling(Ghosh, P.K.) They have never met the teachers because they felt incompetent to speak to them.

Around 12.6 per cent of these women have gone to the school but discontinued as drop-outs during their

primary level of education. Similarly, 11.5 per cent of women pursued education only up to middle level, while,

there were 8.0 per cent of women who had studied up to secondary levels and 1.1 per cent had studied up to

senior secondary.

Just few had studied up to undergraduate level. None of the women as well as men has studied above

graduation and other higher levels of education. It will be observed from the information made available by the

villagers that majority of the heads of the households as well as their women folk did not pursue higher studies.

They could only study up to the primary or at the best middle levels and then dropped out and settled (Chandana

R. C). This may be due to the fact that the village had only a primary school, which is within the reach of the

villagers and as there were no high schools in the past, as such they did not go for higher education (Goel, S.C).

However, at present the village has a high school and this has enabled Educational of the families to send their

children to the high school, but for further higher education, the parents have to send them to a nearby town and

also spend money on account of transportation etc, which is not found to be possible on the part of the

Scheduled Caste families, while the land owning families did prefer higher studies for their children; but their

children did not fare well in education and dropped out of their studies.



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The women are not holding any regular employment and stated to be housewives (95.0%); however,

during the agriculture season, they are reported to assist as wage labourers in the field.

Data relating to education of the children according to their birth order was collected in order to

understand whether the elder or the first born child is mostly kept out of schools to help the family in their

household work, as well as to understand the fact that if the elder child studying in the school encouraged the

younger siblings to go to the schools and provided assistance in terms of learning at home in the absence of any

guidance from their parents who are either preoccupied in their jobs or are not literate enough to teach the

children(Goel, S.C). Owing to inability of most of the families to afford private tuitions, it is not possible to

spend on account of tuitions and the children have to study on their own and depend on the teachers for carrying

out their home work as well as clarify their doubts etc in the school itself. It was also found during the

discussions with the girl children in the schools that the children having an elder brother or a sister did get help

from them in their studies and those who did not have a literate elder brother or a sister had to depend on their

peer group as they are not so confident to ask the teachers to clarify their doubts.

Table No. 6

Bilaspur Area: Education Status of the Women

Education Status of Women % Women of

households Illiterate 62.5

Primary 12.6

Middle 11.5

Secondary 8.0

Senior Secondary 1.1

Undergraduate .8

Others 3.4

Total 100.0 Source: Field survey, 2018

The information relating to number of children in each of the household was collected along with their

levels of education in order to understand the extent of education of the children. An attempt was also made to

understand the gender of the children and their levels of schooling so that effective participation of a girl child

in the schools can be ascertained (Goel, S.C). The data indicated that families had up to 3-6 children; however,

the number of families having a much higher number of children is not very large. Majority of the families had

children up to 3 in a family. It will be observed that the families having a first child comprised 236 children

with 162 boys and 74 girls; the number of girls remained very low, in case of families having second child is

180 children, with 99 boys and 81 girls;



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families having a third child constituted 136 children, with 90 boys and 46 girls; families having a

fourth child constituted 64 with 37 boys and 27 girls; families with 5th child comprised 29 children, with 12

boys and 17 girls; and the families having six children comprised 11children, with 5 boys and 6 girls. Thus, it

will be observed that the population of the boys is higher or double the population of the girl child, with 405

boys and 251 girls constituting 656 children in the households.

The levels of education of the children was also collected from the households in order to understand the

levels of schooling provided to the children and more particularly to understand the levels of education a girl

child has obtained (Table 13). As regard to the first child of the families, around 42 children remained illiterate

and in case of the second child, up to 12 have remained illiterate. Thus around 66 children belonging to various

birth orders remained illiterate and never attended any kind of schooling. The families had educated their

children either up to primary or middle level, this constituted majority of the children, with 421 both boys and

girls, the children who studied up to secondary and higher secondary levels gradually dwindled, with only a

total of 169 children studying up to this stage.( Aggarwal, Yash).

This being the factual data of the village indicating participation of the children in education at various

levels, Educational of these children who had left schooling and are now either working or looking for some

employment, particularly from the group of first child and may be some of the children as indicated their first

child of lower age groups now must be in the schools pursuing their studies. Discussions with the children

studying in the schools as well as their parents during field work, it was found that the elder girls are good at

teaching the younger ones and the elder boys to some extent helped the younger siblings in their studies.

Aspirations of Parents regarding the Future of their Children

The information relating to aspirations of parents with regard to what profession they would prefer for

their children was also collected and the parents had high hopes provided their children performed well and

studied sincerely (Aggarwal, Y. P. and S. Sibou). The response collected from the parents is both for boys and

girls. It will be observed that most of the parents felt that their children should become educated and take up

teaching jobs, as they felt that teaching profession is the best for their children and more particularly for the girl

child, and for boys they felt that they should reach higher levels of institutions such as colleges etc. Educational

as 42.9 per cent of the heads of the households felt that their girl child should take up the job of a teacher and

serve in the nearby villages which they felt very safe and secure. While 32.5 per cent of the parents felt that

boys should reach higher educational institutions as teachers, some of the parents also felt that their children

should become engineers and doctors and take up good business jobs, but such parents were very few.

They also questioned about the quality of education the children are receiving. They expressed further

that there is no money with them for sending their children to private tuitions. Their children find it very

difficult to continue their studies and as they are unable to provide any good facilities in the studies of their

children, they felt that the fulfilment of their aspirations is very difficult. They also stated that the struggle they

had to face daily to earn their livelihood is very hard and under such circumstances, their children cannot go

beyond the school level of education. That is why they felt that the children should study at least up to that level

so that they can at least become teachers in the schools.



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Table No. 7

Bilaspur Area: Career Expectations of Family members from their Children

Career Expectations In case of Boys (%) In case of Girls (%)

Primary Teacher 7.7 42.9

Doctor 0.8 1.9

College/University Teacher 25.2 2.7

Engineer 2.7 0.8

Business 11.

9

-

Others 51.7 51.7

Total 100.0 100.0


Opinion of Mothers

The parents, especially the mothers are interviewed with regard to their meeting with the teachers in

order to understand the problems of their children. This response from the families is very much essential in

order to understand the levels of interest and awareness these families had towards education and also their

proximity to the schools and the teachers.

Interestingly, it is observed that 40% of the parents never visited the school and not met the teacher to

discuss the problem of studies of their children. 35% of the parents stated that they visited 3-5 times in a year

and met the teachers and discussed various problems that their children faced while in school. 25% of the

parents stated that they visited the school one to two times and met the teachers and discussed various problems

of their children with them. The parents mostly found to be occupied in employment and activities related to

Lormi the households, were reported to have stated that in order to go to the school, they have to forego their

employment for the day which is not possible for them to afford.



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Bilaspur Area: Male Literacy

Pattern Male literacy




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Bilaspur Area: Female Literacy rate in Sc Population

Female Literacy rate in Sc Population


Conclusion

Since Independence the development of the Scheduled Caste has remained a great concern for the

nation, although the Constitution has made provisions to safeguard these groups from exclusion and welfare

measures were taken care to a great extent. However, the pace of development among these disadvantaged

groups met with roadblocks. Where the villages never have equal ratio of Scheduled Caste to forward caste

population; more than 90 per cent children in the government school are from the Scheduled Caste communities

while majority of the private school-going children are from forward castes including the other backward castes.



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Compounded to the problem of low levels of education among these groups, it will also be observed that

incidence of poverty among Scheduled Castes has remained at 64.6%, Of the total Scheduled Caste population,

85% live in rural area, 49% rural Scheduled Caste population are agricultural labourers. The inhabitants are

employed as labourers (79.0%) during the agricultural seasons and they worked as waged labourers during non-

agricultural seasons and sometimes remained unemployed. Majority of the women are illiterate (62.5%) and

also worked as agricultural labourers and this has affected education of the children and more particularly of the

girl child in the village.

Reference:

1 Aggarwal, Y. P. and S. Sibou ,Educating Scheduled Castes – A Study of Inter- Area and Intra-Caste Differentials,

NIEPA, 1994 New Delhi.

2 Aggarwal, Yash, ―Some Aspects of Social and Economic Inequities among SCs in Indiaǁ, Journal of Higher Education,

Vol. 21, No. 3, 1998 pp. 415-432.

3 Barak, V.K. and Binay M. Lakra ―Literacy of the Scheduled Tribes in Jharkhand: Patterns and Disparities, 1991-

2001ǁ, Indian Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 64, 2003No. 3-4, pp. 19-34.

4 Chandana R. C. ‘Geography of Population, Concepts, Determinants and Patterns’, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi,

2006 Pp. 278-279

5 Dennis, Nancy. Using inquiry methods to foster information literacy partnerships, Reference Services Review. 29.2

(2001): 122-131.

6 Ghosh, P.K. ―Disparity and Some Possible Determinants of Rural Literacy/Educationǁ, IASSI Quarterly, Vol. 17,1998

No. 1, July -Sept, pp. 124-142

7 Goel, S.C. ―Education and Economic Growth in Indiaǁ, Comparative Education, Vol. 10,1974 No. 2, pp. 147-158

8 Krishnan, S. Raju ―Literacy in India: Current Scenario and Changes during the Last Decadesǁ, Demography India,

Vol. 31, 2002 No. 1, pp. 51-64

9 Kothari C. R.: ‘Research Methodology, Methods and Techniques’, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi, 2004

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10 Sharma, C.K. User’s orientation and contribution of information technology, Library Progress. 20.2 (2000): 71-75.



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