European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Education forms the base of human resource development, which in turn is quintessential for the economic development of a nation. Also, education is a basic right and every individual should have access to it. But, there are wide gaps in the provision of education all over the world. India is no different, as there are noteworthy fissures in the quantity and quality of education with regard to gender, region, religion, caste, etc. Some of its states excel in terms of education and some are just mediocre while still others are laggards. Punjab is one such state, which has shown mere average performance over the years. Though the overall literacy rates have improved over time, but wide discrepancies are still prevalent across the state. Districts in the Doaba region of the state have outperformed districts in the Majha and Malwa regions. This paper attempts to highlight and measure the regional disparities in education in the state of Punjab during 1991 and 2011. The technique of Gini coefficient has been deployed to measure the regional disparity in education. The results show that regional inequality in education is falling in case of male and female (and therefore, total) literacy. But, regional inequality in education is still present and is higher in case of female literacy.