the Kishanganj region which is still characterised by a low overall literacy rate of 31 percent in 2006–07, against which the corresponding rate for Uttar Dinajpur as a whole is a literacy rate of 48 percent... “Like Kishanganj which is now a full-fledged Bihar district, Islampur SD too has a largely rural profile, a large Muslim population and deep concentration of rural poverty”... Persisting regional disparities in access to education and infrastructure, rather than the response and enthusiasm of the local people are largely responsible for making Uttar Dinajpur the least literate district in West Bengal. “Thus, a major challenge facing the district relates to the improvement of educational attainments of the weaker social sections and women, especially among the Muslim community which has a dominant presence in the Islampur SD region… A huge gulf separates the Muslim literacy rate of 36 percent in Uttar Dinajpur from the Muslim literacy rate of 58 percent achieved by West Bengal as a whole.” See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate See also - Literacy in Bihar Language and religion In the 2011 census, Muslims numbered 186,818 and formed 64.14% of the population in Goalpokhar II CD Block. Hindus numbered 100,540 and formed 34.52% of the population. Christians numbered 3,348 and formed 1.15% of the population. Others numbered 540 and formed 0.19% of the population. In Goalpokhar I and Goalpokhar II CD Blocks taken together, as per the District Statistical Handbook for Uttar Dinajpur, while the proportion of Muslims increased from 67.71% in 1991 to 68.82% in 2001, the proportion of Hindus declined from 31.69% in 1991 to 30.19% in 2001. In the 2011 census, Uttar Dinajpur district had 1,501,170 Muslims who formed 49.92% of the population, 1,482,943 Hindus who formed 49.31% of the population, 16,702 Christians who formed 0.56% of the population and 6,319 persons belonging to other religions who formed 0.23% of the population. While the proportion of Muslim population in the district increased from 45.3% in 1991 to 49.9% in 2011, the proportion of Hindu population declined from 54.2% in 1991 to 49.2% in 2011. At the time of the 2011 census, 42.69% of the population spoke Bengali, 30.04% Urdu, 15.87% Surjapuri, 5.19% Santali and 4.06% Hindi as their first language. The Human Development Report for Uttar Dinajpur describes the Islampur subdivision as “a region where Urdu and Hindi are widely spoken as a first