Published Paper Details:

Regional development is best expressed through the levels of literacy and education, as it directly affects the social, economical and political aspects of a region. Education alone is the instrument that ushers a community into a prosperous path. Though The Experimental World Literacy Program (UNESCO) has declared literacy as a human right, yet it has been denied to several groups directly or indirectly. Gender disparity in literacy is a global issue which has been carried, faced and tolerated since many generations arising largely out of favour-ism towards male child than a female child. An illiterate woman faces more hardships in life than the literate ones. The existence of disparity in literacy amongst the two genders brings sluggish and lope- sided development of the country. Increasing female literacy rates or bridging of the disparity rates means opening opportunities for women in economy, increasing her individual rational thinking and also improving her social status which in turn means attainment of women empowerment. India although been a fast growing economy is crippled by literacy disparity between the two genders. Several programmes and policies have been implemented to improve the situation. Amongst the states, Kerala has the lowest disparity rate while Bihar has the highest disparity rate. In this paper the existence of literacy disparity in the state of West Bengal has been studied. The state stands at 20th position in terms of literacy rates. This paper aims at bringing forth the fact that gender disparity in literacy exist in the state of West Bengal by making an analysis of literacy rates of its various districts following the census data and also aims at providing suggestive measures through which the situation can be improved.