Disparities in the Levels of Educational Development in Jammu and Kashmir, India: A District Wise Analysis

Regional disparities in the levels of social and economic development are a global phenomenon especially in the developing and the underdeveloped countries. The educational levels to a large extent determine the quality of life and the overall socio-economic development of a particular population. India has considerable inequalities in education sector and persistent efforts are being made by respective governments, both at the central and the state level to reduce these inequalities. Jammu and Kashmir also has considerable disparities in education in terms of literacy level, infrastructure, opportunities for primary, secondary and higher education, facilities for professional courses and trainings in specialized technical skills etc. These inequalities are expectedly bound to create various socio-economic and political problems. The present study assesses the pattern of disparities in educational development at the district level in Jammu and Kashmir applying the Kendall's Rank Order method, based upon optimal combination of selected educational development Indicators. In order to get a clear picture of regional educational disparities in Jammu and Kashmir, the levels of development are assessed separately for individual districts and then are classified subsequently into three development categories according to the values of the constructed ranks. The study places seven districts in the highly developed category while as seven have been placed in moderately developed districts while as the rest of the eight districts have been placed in the low developed districts.