Attitude towards economic causes of educational backwardnes of Muslim women in West Bengal

Muslim women contribute about one-seventh of the total population in West Bengal that cannot be ignored. But, most of them remained educationally, socially, politically and culturally backward. The identified economic causes such as poverty, low perceived return from education, lack of sufficient educational materials (e.g. books, khata etc.) and tuition fees, lack of sufficient and essential food, economic problem for continuation of studies for more number of girls children, less number of earning members of Muslim families, lack of economic support, more engagement in part-time and household work for earning money, unemployment etc. played an important role for educational backwardness of Muslim women in West Bengal. A survey has been carried out to find out the opinions of Muslim women towards these economic causes of educational backwardness of Muslim women in West Bengal. The paper also presents the several ways for removing economic barriers for improvement of Muslim women education in West Bengal.