Equity and Inclusion in Education

Brief write-up
On the proposed area of research

Equity and Inclusion in Education

Submitted by

Prashant Singh
Master of Social Work (MSW)

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 Equity and Inclusion in Education

Contents

1 Statement of the problem/topic

2 Rationale of the study, i.e. importance and need for the proposed study

3 Brief review of related literature

4 Objectives/research questions

5 Design of the study

6 Proposed methodology

7 Database and instruments for data collection (if any)

8 Expected outcomes; and

9 Implications of the proposed research.

1. Statement of the problem/topic

Relegation of a defined section of a society to inequality is found perhaps only in India. Nowhere in
the world has any particular section been devoid of basic human rights, dignity of labour and social
equality on the basis of classification that finds its root in religious writings. In India, the Hindu society
is divided into various castes on the basis of their occupation. In the lowest rank of this classification
are the Scheduled Castes (SCs) who were condemned to perform the menial and unclean tasks on
behalf of the society. As they were exclusively assigned the role of performing unclean tasks on
behalf of the society, they came to be treated as outcastes or “untouchables”. It is this social stigma
that pushed them down to the bottom of the social ladder alienating them from the mainstream of the
society and assigning them to a position lower than several depressed classes who also suffered from
social, economic and educational deprivation.

According to 2001 Census, the literacy rate among Scheduled Caste population is 54.7% as
compared to 64.80% among total population. However, literacy among Scheduled Caste female is
quite low i.e., 41.90% against 53.70% of general female, which is a cause of great concern. Growth
rate of literacy among SC females between the two decennial Census 1991 and 2001 is 18% points.
However, 456 districts out of total of 582 districts inhabited by SCs, the literacy among SCs is less
than average literacy rate of non-SC/ST population. The literacy rate among the SCs continues to be
much lower than the all India level for the
States : Bihar (28.5%), Rajasthan (52.2%),
Table – 1 : Literacy Rate (1991 and 2001 Census)
Madhya
Pradesh (58.6%), Uttar Pradesh (46.3%) Castes Total Male Female
1991 2001 1991 2001 1991 2001
and Andhra Pradesh (53.5%). (ref : table –
1). General 52.2 64.8 64.1 75.3 39.3 53.7
SC 37.4 54.7 49.9 66.6 23.8 41.9

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 Equity and Inclusion in Education

The enrolment ratio in classes I – VIII indicates 84.8% for general population and 69.63% for SCs.
The drop-out amongst the SCs is much higher in classes I – VIII & I – X (59.42% & 73.13%) as
against the general population (31.47% &62.69%). The drop out rate is much higher amongst the SC
girl students. (ref : table – 2 & 3)

At the time of independence, India inherited an educated system which was not only quantitatively
small but was characterized by
striking regional and structural
Table – 2 : Gross enrolment ratio (2003 – 2004)
imbalances. Education was not
accessible to all and some regions Castes Classes I – V Classes I – VIII

were more developed than the Total Total

others as far as education was General 98.2 84.8

concerned. Some sections of the SC 92.97 69.63
population were socially and
educationally backward due to socio-cultural and econrities reasons. Girls, children from weaker
section of society, SC/ST, backward minorities and disabled children were educationally
disadvantaged. Several measures have been taken after independence to provide educational
opportunities to all sections of Indian society and to remove disparities. Our Constitution made special
provisions to
equalize Table – 3 : Drop out Rates (2003-04)
educational Castes Classes I – V Classes I – VIII Classes I – X
opportunities Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls
among these
General 31.47 33.74 28.57 52.32 51.85 52.92 62.69 60.98 64.92
groups. SC 36.56 36.83 36.19 59.42 57.33 62.19 73.13 71.41 75.49
National Policy
on Education, 1968 and that of 1986 also recommended equal
educational opportunities for all children. NPE 1986 provides several guidelines to achieve this.
2. Rationale of the study, i.e. importance and need for the proposed study :
India emerged as a nation free from British rule on August 15, 1947. However the hard won
independence posed many challenges which the country had to tackle. One of these was mass
illiteracy and a system of education which was qualitatively poor and quantitatively inadequate
especially to meet this challenge. Only 14 percent of the total population in 1947 was literate and only
one child out of three was enrolled in primary school. Regional, gender, caste and class disparities
further complicated the situation. There was acute shortage of trained technical and scientific
personnel in the country who could take up gigantic task of national reconstruction. There was an
immediate need in India to enlarge her resources by developing new productive capacities to meet
the challenges of inequality, illiteracy, poverty and ignorance and to assure all its citizens the benefits
of freedom and social Justice. Therefore a constitution was considered essential for the country. The
needs of post independent Indian society motivated the founders of the constitution to adopt a
democratic, socialistic and secular pattern of Indian society. Education in India is a concurrent subject

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 Equity and Inclusion in Education

about which both the center and state can make legislation. However if there is any contradiction
between the center and the state on any educational issue, the central legislation prevails. Article 45
under the Directive Principles of the States laid the foundation stone for free and compulsory
education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years( recently right to education bill has
been passed). Article 28 makes education a fundamental right of the child and directs the state to
make necessary provision for free and compulsory education.

There are lots of importance and need of the proposed study in terms of the following reasons –

− For equity and excellence in education : The Indian society is nearly five thousand years old
society with strong social, cultural and mythological traditions marked by immense diversities and
disparities and a history of gross discrimination based on caste, class and gender.

− Girl’s education for bridging the gap : You may be aware that during the post-independence
period, literacy rates have shown a substantial increase. But our Constitutional directive of free
and compulsory Universal Elementary Education (UEE) for all up to the age of fourteen years
remained unfulfilled even today. One of the main reasons for the non-achievement of this
objective is the slow progress of girl education.

− Rightful education of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward sections :
The scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) are the two most deprived sections of
society in our country. As such, they have been provided statutory safeguards under the Indian
Constitution, thereby making it obligatory on the part of the State to take special measures for
their educational upliftment but right now they are yet excluded.

− Promoting education among minorities : Although Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India
guarantee the rights of minorities to conserve the language, script and culture and to establish
and administer educational institutions of their choice whether based on religion or language. But
still minorities are not getting the rightful education.

− Education of disabled children : Another group of children which is educationally

disadvantaged and requires special attention is disabled/handicapped or impaired children.
3. Brief review of related literature :
Indian society is characterized by strong socio-culture disparities and diversities which get assimilated
in and perpetuated through educational systems. After independence our constitution made special
mention for providing equal educational opportunities to all children irrespective of the caste, gender,
religion, culture of origin. However, disparities and inequalities in education continue even today. The
National Policy on Education -1986 lays special emphasis on removal of disparities and equalizing
educational opportunities by attending to the specific needs of those who have been denied equality
so far i.e. education of girls and women, SCs and STs, education of educationally backward minorities
and handicapped. NPE, 1986 adopted policy of protective discrimination to promote education among
these underprivileged groups. POA, 1992 detailed out specially designed strategies and programmes
of primary and elementary education for equalizing educational opportunities to these deprived
groups. Several initiatives and programmes have been undertaken to equalize educational

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opportunities. Along with the government, non-government agencies too are involved in providing
equal educational opportunities to all these groups. The teacher’s role in this context is especially
important. The teacher has to identify the main obstacles to UEE among these groups which may vary
from area to area and from one community to another. The main reason for lower participation of girls
in education lies in discriminatory attitude of our society which still provides all facilities to the male
child as far as education is concerned, this is done even at the cost of the girl child’s education.
Muslim girls need special attention, as they are not backward when educational opportunities are
provided to them and they are encouraged to stay on and achieve SC children generally remain out of
school due to poverty whereas ST children do not feel comfortable in school due to their socio-cultural
background which is very much different from the school environment. While planning education for
these children, these factors need to be taken into consideration by the teacher and authorities.
The Teacher needs to take suitable action for improving access, enrolment, retention, participation
and achievement among these groups. These include Area Intensive programmes, contacting parents
and community, special drives to enroll children in school. Children with disability or impairment of any
kind have special learning needs and require special treatment and resources for their education.
NPE, 1986 recommends integration of such children along with normal children in regular schools as
research studies have shown that such children learn better when they are given a chance to learn
along with normal children. To facilitate them school system and environment has to be adopted
including proper attitude and preparation of teachers, curriculum, teaching strategies, classroom
management, assessment, school building and furniture.

Now let us first review the progress of education among SC and ST children. There is substantial
increase in literacy SC and ST since independence e.g. the literacy percentage of SC increased from
10.27 in 1961 to 37.41 in 1991 whereas the literacy rate of ST has increased from 8.54 in 1961 to
29.60% in 1991. Let us compare literacy of SC and ST with the rest of the population.

Table 11.1 clearly shows that the

literacy rates of SCs and STs are Table – 4 : Comparative Literacy Rate
still much lower than Persons Scheduled Scheduled Others
the literacy rate of other Castes Tribes (Other than SC and ST)
communities. Literacy rate of
Rural
female is lower than that of
Male 45.95 38.45 63.42
males
Female 19.46 16.02 35.3
and ST rural girls are at the
Total 33.25 27.38 49.86
bottom of Literacy rung.
Urban
Similarly the enrolment of SC
Male 66.5 66.56 83.40
and ST children is lower than
Female 42.29 45.66 67.48
that of children belonging to
Total 55.11 56.60 75.93
Total
Male 49.91 40.65 69.53
Female 23.76 18.19 44.51
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Total 37.41 29.60 57.69
 Equity and Inclusion in Education

other communities both at primary and upper primary level especially of girls. Dropout
rates SC and ST continue to be much higher than that of children of other communities at
all levels of schooling.
During the post-independence period, the Government of India has initiated several
measures to provide equal educational opportunities to SC and ST children. The NPE 1986 stressed
on the removal of disparities and attainment of equalization of educational opportunities for SC, ST
and other backward sections specially for girls. POA 1986 described a number of strategies aimed at
accelerating their enrolment and retention. (Source: Census of India, 1991)

4. Objectives/research questions :
The objective of the study is to evolve such strategies for the mainstreaming of the excluded people of
the society. The study will focus on :

i. Evolving the strategy to implement strategic policy advocacy for inclusive education;

ii. Evolving the strategy to facilitate more inclusive civil society and state institutions and social
process in terms of Equity and Inclusion in education;
iii. Evolving the strategy to facilitate for most excluded groups (SC, ST, Muslims, Women, and
people with disability) for their inclusion on equitable terms and development of their
education.

5. Design of the study :

Exploratory research design would be used for the study to formulate a problem for more precise
investigation. The major emphasis would be discovered the ideas and insights relating to the topic.
The design must provide the opportunity for considering different aspects of the problems .

6. Proposed methodology :
Four such districts would be selected whose SC, ST, Muslims population is very high, 4 such districts
would be selected whose General caste population would be very high .These districts will be
selected from the four region of the UP i.e. east, west, central and bundelkhand. After that 2 villages
from each district will be randomly selected, and from every village 20 hhs survey will be done for
knowing their answers (Detailed questionnaire will be developed).

Questionnaires will be administered to undertake probe at the level of (a) districts officials, (b) families
of selected villages, (c) state level policy makers, (d) civil society organizations, (e) political parties
and (f) experts.

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 Equity and Inclusion in Education

7. Database and instruments for data collection (if any) :

Different – different database and instruments would be used in the study for data collection as per
need. Usually the instruments and database which would be used in the study are; a) Observation, b)
Personal Interview, c) Questionnaire, d) Focus Group Discussion (FGD), e) Schedule and Case
studies etc.

8. Expected outcomes and :

Expected outcomes of the proposed study would be, to find the resolution of the problem persists in
the achieving the inclusive education for this certain outcomes would be attained –

− To find out the resolution that how can we reduced number of out of school children of SC, ST,
Muslims and within them girls and Children

− Fully functional elementary and secondary schools as per the given state and national norms to
make inclusive education

− Discrimination free class room and school practices (Seating arrangement inside class room, non
discriminatory access to facilities in schools such as mid day meal, drinking water, supply of
books and uniform, scholarship provided by the government, teachers checking note books of
socially excluded children regularly, no corporal punishments)
− Enrolment and attendance of children in elementary and secondary schools
− Retention and transition of children of socially excluded groups in elementary and secondary
schools
− Teacher attendance in elementary and secondary schools
− Active participation of women and socially excluded groups in decision making committees and in
monitoring quality of teaching in class rooms 8 (teachers attendance, non discriminatory
treatment in class rooms, learning achievement)
− Increase in learning achievements of children from socially excluded communities

9. Implications of the proposed research :

− Overcoming the problem of school dropouts and laying emphasis on retention and achievement
rather than on mere enrolment;

− Strengthening the alternatives to schooling, particularly, non-formal education system for working
children, girls and children from other disadvantaged or marginalized sections of society;

− Shifting focuses from educationally backward states to educationally backward districts;

− Adopting disaggregated approach with a focus on preparation of district-specific and population-
specific educational plans;

− Providing universal access to schooling facilities particularly to girls, disaggregated groups, and
out of school children;

− Village Education Committees and laying stress on participative process.