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The Working Model
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tively higher than that of other communities. But this cannot be said about the educational standard in general. Not only the educational standard is not advanced among the Jainas but also there is no common standard seen among the various Jaina castes. The disparity in educational standard among Jaina castes may perhaps be due to the fact that the number of Jaina castes is relatively very large and there is a noticeable tendency among several castes to help the members of their own caste only. With a view to ascertain the educational standard in regional and foreign languages attained by males or females of several Jaina castes the question number 18 was asked and from the replies it will be noted that the educational standard does not appear to be the same for all castes. In general it can be maintained that the Jaina castes from the Deccan and South India are educationally much more backward than the Jaina castes from the other parts of India. The educational standard of all Jaina castes in the Deccan like Saitavāla, Chaturtha, Pañchama and Bogāra is definitely low as compared with that of castes in the North like Śrimāla, Osavāla. Porąvāda, Agravāla, Khandelavāla, Paravāra, Bannore, etc. While in Northern India the males go generally upto the Matriculation and the females complete the primary education, in the Deccan and South India the males reach only the fourth standard vernacular and the females are almost absolutely blank. Further. even among the Jaina castes of Northern (including Central and Western ) India it will be noticed that the castes having a smaller population like Mesari Bhāvasāra, Bāvanagāma Bhāvasāra, Dasā Narasingapurā, Kathanerā, Nevi Dhākada and Bagheravāla are not educationally advanced like the other populous castes. It is pertinent to note that the castes which state that the education is continuously increasing among their caste members are all comparatively rich castes like Dasā Śrimāli svetāmbara, Dasā Śrimāli Sthānakavāsi, Agravāla, Khandelavāla, Paravāra and Hummada. This means that the existing disparity will be perpetuated, if not accentuated. To get an idea of existing disparity in the educational standard in both regional and foreign languages between the members of soine castes the following approximate figures are given as stated by them.15
