Literacy among schedule caste and schedule tribe women in West Bengal

Schedule caste (SC) and schedule tribe (ST) constitute a large group (25.2%) in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic country, India. SC and ST women that contribute approximately 12.38% of total population in India and 14.26% in West Bengal cannot be ignored. But their educational, social, economical and caste status remains far below the normal. An effort has been made to investigate the trends of literacy of SC and ST women in West Bengal, India. Comparatively lower percentages of SC and ST women literacy in West Bengal before 2001 and a little progress of SC and ST women literacy in West Bengal after 2001 had been observed. The literacy percentage of SC and ST women in West Bengal remained the lowest among all other persons in India and West Bengal, Muslim persons in India and West Bengal, all other females in West Bengal, SC and ST males in West Bengal for the period from 1961 to 2011 due to economic, social, institutional, caste and cultural, and awareness related causes. Higher literacy among SC and ST women in the regions of low population density and lower SC and ST women literacy in the regions of medium and high Muslim population density indicated the importance of mutual interactions of castes, cultures and social attitudes between SC and ST women and other communities in West Bengal.