This paper is attempting to assess the role of education as a development indicator particularly to evaluate the level of educational attainment for the blocks of Uttar Dinajpur District for the year 2010-2011. This is done based on the methodology had been used by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its Human Development Report (1995). Two reliable and available indicators i.e., gross enrollment ratio (GER) and adult literacy ratio (ALR) have been used to calculate the EI (Education Index) for the blocks of Uttar Dinajpur District. The highest EI is found in the block Kaliaganj (0.7220) followed by Raiganj, Hemtabad, Karandighi, Itahar, Chopra and Islampur blocks while the lowest EI is found in the block Goalpokhar-I (0.4524). Based on computed EI, all the blocks are categorized into three groups i.e., developed, developing and under-develop. Two blocks namely, Kaliaganj and Raiganj are experiencing high EI; five blocks namely, Hemtabad, Karandighi, Hemtabad, Itahar, Chopra and Islampur are experiencing moderate EI; and two blocks namely, Goalpokhar-I and Goalpokhar-II are experiencing low EI.
Key words: Education; Gross Enrollment Index; Adult Literacy Index; Education Index.
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