International Research Journal of Social Sciences_____________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(5), 7-11, May (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci. International Science Congress Association 7 Education Index of Birbhum District at Block Level: A Critical Study Anushri Mondal and Debasish Roy2 Raghunathganj Girl’s High School, Balighata Rd, Raghunathganj, West Bengal 742213, INDIA Geography, Ahiran Hemangini Vidyayatan High School, West Bengal Available online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 1st March 2014, revised 27th April 2014, accepted 10th May 2014 Abstract Education is most important measure of Human Development. Birbhum district originates in the chotonagpur plateau region of Jharkhand and slope across the district in a west-east direction. Here the percentage of literate persons is 61.48%, percentage of male population is 51.29% and percentage of female population is 48.71%. The methodology is mainly based on United Nations Development Program-Human Development Report (HDR) framework. 4 blocks are in less developed category, 9 blocks are moderately developed category and 6 blocks are developed category. Keywords: Education Index, Total Literacy Index, Combined Enrolment Index. Introduction Education is the backbone of any nation. The basic two components of Human Resource Development are recognised as Health and Education by United Nations Organisation. Swami Vivekananda said that “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man”. After independence The Radha-Krishnan Commission (1948), the mudalier Commission (1952-53), The Kothari Commission helps to develop the educational scenario of India. Education is the key factor of socio-economic development of a country or a region. A good educational system can produce skilled and trained person which help economic and social development of a country. Education promotes citizen to participate the developmental affairs of a district. Birbhum District is very important in educational scenario of West Bengal or India because a central University named Visva-Bharati is situated here. There are 14 general degree college and 39 technical and professional Schools, Colleges and Universities. There are also 5587 special and non-formal educational institutions. Study area: Our study area Birbhum District is one of the 19thdistricts of West Bengal, situated at 23\r33’N to24\r35’N and 87\r10’S to 88\r2’S. The area of the district is 4550 sq km. The district divided into three sub division named Suri, Bolpur, and Rampurhat and there are 19 blocks. The Visva-Bharati University is situated in this district at Bolpur subdivision. There are one district library and Government sponsored general library is 127. Figure-1 Location Map of Birbhum District International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(5), 7-11, May (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 8 Objectives: The major objectives of the proposed research are. i. To find out the block level Education Index of the Birbhum district. ii. To determine the major factor responsible for this level of less development. iii. To categorize blocks into three categories, they are less developed, moderately developed and developed. Methodology The study is based on data from secondary sources. Census of India (2001, 1991), Birbhum District Human Development Report (2009), and District Statistical Handbook of Birbhum (2010-11) provide most of the data required for the study. The parameters for calculating the Education Index are following Education Index: i. Indicators: i. Total Literacy Index= Actual percentage/100% ii. Combined Enrolment Index = (Primary Index + Middle Index + High Index) / 3 Dimension Index: Education Index = 2/3 (Total Literacy Index) + 1/3 (Combined Enrolment Index). (Actual value – Minimum value) / (Maximum value - Minimum value) formula is used for the calculation (HDR-2000). Results and Discussion Education index measures the relative achievement in both adult literacy and combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment of any region (Handbook of Human Development, 2009). Adult Literacy Rate 2/3 weights and Gross Enrolment ratio has been given 1/3 weight. Combined enrolment is a average value of the number of students in primary, middle and high schools. Thus the education index (EI) is calculated as. EI=2/3 (Total Literacy Index) + 1/3 (Combined Enrolment Index) Total Literacy Index: Total literacy rate represent of education conditions in each block of district. Develops block are presents higher literacy rate. To prepare the literacy index, actual percentages of different blocks are divided by 100%. Hypothetically zero is taken as the lowest and hundred as the highest possible percentage. Total Literacy Index= Actual percentage/ 100% Combined Enrolment Index: Combined enrolment index is the number of students in primary, middle and high schools. Enrolment Index of each standard (primary, middle and high) are calculated by the formula Dimension Index= (Actual value – Minimum value) / (Maximum value - Minimum value) Combined Enrolment Index (CEI) is an average of these three parameters. CEI= (Primary Index + Middle Index + High Index) / 3 The block of Birbhum District can be classified into three categories according to the level of Education Index. Less Developed Blocks:- Blocks with index value below 0.50 considered are ‘less developed’ blocks. There are four blocks in this category. These are Mohammad bazar, Rajnagar, Suri-I, Suri-II. These blocks are highly backward in educational conditions. Of all the blocks Rajnagar ranks lowest. Combined enrolment index of Rajnagar block is very poor. Moderately Developed Blocks:- Blocks with index value between 0.50 – 0.60 are considered as ‘moderately developed’ blocks. There are nine blocks in this category. These are Murarai-I, Murarai-II, Mayureswar –I, Mayureswar-II, Rampurhat-I, Rampurhat-II, Dubrajpur, Khoyrasole and Bolpur-Sriniketan. Combined enrolment index and literacy index of this is moderately. Communication facility of Rampurhat-I block is very good. Of all the blocks literacy index of Murarai-II is lowest. Developed Blocks: - Blocks with index value above 0.60 are considered ‘developed blocks’. There are six blocks in this category. These are Nalhati-I, Nalhati-II, Sainthia, Labhpur, Nanoor and Illambazar. Nalhati-I is the most developed block with the education index of 0.7229. Combined enrolment index and literacy index is very good here in Nalhati-I block. On the other hand Sainthia is very good in literacy index.Cause of less development of education: Poverty:- Poverty means lack of essential food and income. Food is primary need of a human being then education. So poverty is very important on educational scenario of a district. Here Mohammad bazar, Rajnagar, Suri-I, Suri-II blocks are less developed because level of poverty is high. Lack of educational facility:- Where educational institution is low in number there literacy rate is low. A god educational institution spread education on its surrounding area. For example Visva-Bharati University spread educational facility on its surroundings.3 Communication problems: Communication is very important of an areas development. The distance between school and students home is higher and transport facility of this block is bad. Their presence of students in his school is low. The less developed blocks are Mohammad bazar, Rajnagar, Suri-I, Suri-II their education index is low because the transport facility of this block is bad. Caste Composition: Less developed blocks and moderately developed blocks are inhabited by SC. / ST. Population. The main source of income of these castes is agriculture. So they are all time busy to meeting their primary needs. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(5), 7-11, May (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 9 Table-1 Table for Education Index Name of C.D Blocks Primary Students Primary Index Middle Student Middle Index High student High Index Combined Enrolment Index(CEI) Total Literacy (%) Literacy Index Education Index Remarks Nalhati –I 14752 0.6676 1272 0.8368 12166 1 0.8348 63.70 0.637 0.7229 Developed block Nalhati-II 9217 0.2527 1499 0.9912 10117 0.7759 0.6733 61.60 0.616 0.6351 Developed block Murarai-I 16534 0.8012 708 0.4534 7940 0.5378 0.5975 46.60 0.466 0.5098 Moderately Developed Blocks Murarai-II 19186 1 80 0.0265 11181 0.8923 0.6396 46.20 0.462 0.5212 Moderately Developed Blocks Mayureswar-I 13066 0.5412 609 0.3861 7930 0.5367 0.4880 65.40 0.654 0.5987 Moderately Developed Blocks Mayureswar-II 8057 0.1657 846 0.5474 4650 0.1780 0.2970 62.80 0.628 0.5177 Moderately Developed Blocks Rampurhat-I 15640 0.7342 1148 0.7525 3754 0.0800 0.5222 61.90 0.619 0.5867 Moderately Developed Blocks Rampurhat-II 13681 0.5873 213 0.1169 8571 0.6086 0.4370 63.50 0.635 0.5690 Moderately Developed Blocks Mohammad Bazar 16077 0.7669 117 0.0517 5897 0.3143 0.3776 55.10 0.551 0.4932 Less Developed Blocks Sainthia 15105 0.6941 1469 0.9708 6308 0.3593 0.6747 64.90 0.649 0.6576 Developed block Dubrajpur 10112 0.6196 604 0.3827 5765 0.2999 0.4341 56.70 0.567 0.5227 Moderately Developed Blocks Rajnagar 5846 0 547 0.3440 3023 0 0.1147 58.30 0.583 0.4269 Less Developed Blocks Suri-I 8305 0.1843 41 0 5973 0.3227 0.1690 62.50 0.625 0.4730 Less Developed Blocks Suri-II 7966 0.1589 276 0.1598 3499 0.0521 0.1236 63.80 0.638 0.4665 Less Developed Blocks Khoyrasole 11898 0.4537 684 0.4371 5580 0.2797 0.3902 60.50 0.605 0.5334 Moderately Developed Blocks Bolpur-Sriniketan 14290 0.6330 758 0.4874 6689 0.4010 0.4499 60.00 0.600 0.5500 Moderately Developed Blocks Labhpur 15407 0.7167 681 0.4351 9120 0.6668 0.6062 62.10 0.621 0.6161 Developed block Nanoor 16477 0.7969 1512 1 8652 0.6157 0.8042 61.20 0.612 0.6761 Developed block Illambazar 12599 0.5062 1278 0.8409 6181 0.3454 0.5642 63.00 0.630 0.6081 Developed block Source: Computed by the authors. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(5), 7-11, May (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 10 Table-2 No. of Institutions, Student and Teachers of Birbhum District for the year 2010-11 Name of Educational Institutions No. of Institutions Total no of students Total No. of teachers Primary Schools 2379 267830 8335 Middle Schools 48 14783 331 High Schools 210 138737 2474 Higher Secondary Schools 166 209392 3570 General degree colleges and Universities 15 36026 1008 Professional and Technical schools, colleges and Universities 39 6530 483 Special and Non-formal education 5587 234362 6686 Source: District statistical hand book Table-3 Table for caste composition and % of children out of school in Birbhum District Name of C.D Blocks Total population SC. population ST. Population Muslim Population %children out if school Nalhati –I 208642 69079 9093 97415 13.27 Nalhati-II 107658 24231 341 73235 9.27 Murarai-I 154342 38975 7586 86811 30.83 Murarai-II 177748 31766 663 130865 18.9 Mayureswar-I 139733 45553 9065 38846 15.79 Mayureswar-II 113031 34625 7553 26890 12.69 Rampurhat-I 159193 49979 21038 46219 18.05 Rampurhat-II 158742 52405 665 74666 14.47 Mohammad Bazar 139465 37368 26800 40481 25.02 Sainthia 175645 60300 21197 35103 18.89 Dubrajpur 159011 55456 8146 50202 29.06 Rajnagar 69692 23598 10524 9277 27.07 Suri-I 96476 34998 8174 24428 20.8 Suri-II 77001 25417 9753 23267 15.9 Khoyrasole 135101 47416 2222 30176 32.24 Bolpur-Sriniketan 178111 53184 31960 43582 16.46 Labhpur 176865 52118 7316 50722 20.06 Nanoor 193775 61803 3834 64827 19.68 Illambazar 145182 34826 12707 66683 21.2 Source: District Statistical Hand Book and District human development report Government Policy: Government Policy is very important for an areas development. For example Mid-day meal programme controlled of an areas drop out ratio, Education for All programme increased total enrolment ratio, Operation Black-board programme pulled the children to school. Government formulate various commissions like Kothari Commission, Mudalier commission, Radha Krishnan Commission to develop the educational system.Suggestive measure for improvement in education index: i. Increasing number of schools, colleges and Universities. ii. Motivate the population to admit their children in the school. iii. Development the communication network. iv. Spread women education by girl’s schools and colleges. v. Increase income level of this district by modernization of agriculture and improvement of small and cottage industry. vi. Modernization different Government policy and rules. Conclusion In respect of education index Birbhum District is sub-divided into 3 categories and Nalhati I is ranking 1st position where Rajnagar block is ranked last position. In contrast, the state literacy rate was 57.7% in 1991. In 2001 the rate was 68.64%. The district total literacy rate was 48.56% in 1991 and 61.48% in 2001. So, it is clear that district literacy is less than the state average. In contrast, the district literacy rate is 61.48% and Mayureswar -I block literacy rate is 65.4%, Murarai –II block literacy rate is 46.2%. The literacy rate of Murarai-II block is too lower than the district average literacy rate . International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 3(5), 7-11, May (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 11 Acknowledgement Rajiv Gandhi National Fellow with NET UGC and CSIRReferences 1.Nandi P. and Saha P., Educational Institutes of Birbhum District and its impact on Literacy, ILEE,33(2),December (2010)2.Roy Debasish, Status of Human Development in the District of Birbhum at Block Level, International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology,1(2), September (2013)3.District Statistical Handbook, Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics, Government of West Bengal(2009)4.District Human Development Report, Birbhum,(2009)5.Basumatary R., School Dropout across Indian States and UTs: An Econometric Study, International Research Journal of Social Sciences, 1(4), 28-35 (2012)6.District Census Handbook, Birbhum (2001)