Uttar Pradesh is one of the educationally most backward states of India. One of the characteristic of educational achievement of Uttar Pradesh is that there exist large scale disparities in literacy between different regions and social and religious groups. For the inclusive development of the country it is necessary that all section of the society must have access to education. The present study aims to analyze the literacy and educational status of scheduled caste and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. For this purpose census data for the three time period (1961, 2001 and 2011) has been used. In order to gauge the progress of education, district-wise achievement at the primary and matriculation and above levels of education have been analyzed. The state was most backward in terms of attainment of education at the matriculation and above level (1.59 percent in 1961 and 20.76 percent in 2001. The same trend has been observed in 2011 also though there is some improvement). Allahabad division is most advanced educationally, as the percentage of total population who have achieved an education at the matriculation level and above is greater here than in any other division of the state. Faizabad division where literacy in the total population and also in the scheduled castes and religious groups is very low, educational attainment even up to primary level is also very low. Finally the estimates of literacy and educational attainment at district level computed in this paper will contribute in unfolding ground realities of scheduled castes and Muslims educational backwardness in the largest state of India and proved helpful for more intensive research.
Education, Backwardness, Muslims, Religious Communities, Scheduled Castes
