SCHOOLING IN RURAL AREAS 57 TABLE IV Caste Upto middle Matriculates Graduate Post-Graduate Total Upper3001803~715532 Backward 50 20 3 1 74 Total3502004016606 3 per cent are matriculates; only a few are graduates and postgraduates. It reveals that the upper castes are the main beneficiaries of educational development and that the econnmically backward castes are lagging behind. The data on school drop-outs were collected from school attendance registers of 11 villages.2 There were 841 children who had left sch6ol before completing primary education in 1966-67. They mainly belonged to scheduled castes and tribes. The main reason for the dropping out was that the parents could not afford normal school expenditure and generally sent their children for small jobs like weeding, looking after cattle and to help the family. Caste-wise break-up of the 841 drop-outs was as follows: Scheduled Castes 276, Scheduled Tribes 367, Backward Castes 96, other castes 102.3 To sum up, trading castes by one criterion and the richer peasants and landlords by another are more literate and are far ahead in utilising school and higher education facilities than SC/ST and other economically backward sections of the village society. Those villages which are dominated by primary activities and have large SC/ST populations, are the most backward educationally. The rate of retention in school is higher among better off sections while drop- out, wastage and stagnation are common among SC/ST, small/marginal farmers and other economically backward sections of village community. The expansion of literacy and levels of education is by and large concentrated in developed villages of rural areas, within which the better-off sections have benefited to a much greater extent from educational development. The socio-economically backward classes are lagging behind in their educational pursuits. MOHD AKHTAR HUSAIN* 1 The figures exclude Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. 2 The villages are Garh, Lalgarh, Totia Bhata, Birajpur, Damodarpura, M. Pura, B. Pura, Godha Mena Hath'pura, Chaitpura, Kishanpura, and Dantili. 3 Figures obtained from the office of NCERT, Jaipur. * Lecturer, Centre for Educational Technology, National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi.