Scheduled Castes Literacy In Telangana –A Spatial Perspective

Abstract

To ensure that, by the same date, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education”  19^th point, United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2000.

A person who is able to read and write with understanding in any language is recorded as literate. Literacy is the best possible barometer to judge the level of educational awakening in a state, leading to a minimum capacity for self-learning. Education is one of the important needs of life. Education is considered as a key indicator of human development and progress. Education is the most important pre-requisite for achieving the goals of personal, social, political, economic, and cultural development. In other words, education is the most effective instrument for meeting the challenges that dalits are facing. Education is the most important element for the development of human being. So, vast inequalities exist within the education system in India. Historical evidences in this regard indicate that Dalit community has been excluded from the whole process of education since centuries. In comparison to other developed countries our literacy percentage is not so satisfactory. Telangana is the newly formed state of India. It is the 12^th largest state with a population of more than 300 millions. Dalits constitute about 17 percent of the total population in Telangana.  The main objectives of the study area are as follows: To study the spatio-temporal analysis of literacy levels of Scheduled caste; To study the present educational status of scheduled caste; To study the differential levels of literacy with others Methodology: The Main data source for the study area is from secondary data, taken from various Govt. and Non govt. organizations like; Census of India, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, DISE, SSA etc