How do social inequalities get reproduced in the Indian education system?
According to the sociological perspective, education does not arise in response to individual needs. However, it arises out of the needs of the society of which the individual is a member. The education system of any society is related to its total social system. It is a sub-system performing specific functions for the ongoing social system. The goals and needs of the total social system get reflected in the function it lays down for the educational system and the form in which it structures it to fulfill those functions.
Schools legitimate the myth that everyone has an equal chance, those who work hard deserve the top jobs, these people deserve their superior rewards. In this way, inequality becomes justified. However, Bowles and Gintis argue that rewards in education and occupation are based not on ability but social background. The higher a person’s class or origin, the more likely they are attaining top qualifications and top job. For Bowles and Gintis, School can be seen to legitimize social inequalities.
Historically, education in India has not been all-inclusive in its approach. Even Vedas were prohibited for women and lower castes for a long time. Equality of educational opportunity demands that all pupils be exposed to the same opportunities and curriculum in similar schools through equal inputs. While equality of opportunity to basic primary education is theoretically realized by introducing the Right to Education in 2009, equality in outcome or achievement is more challenging.
Inequalities in education reflect the broader social stratification in Indian society. It is almost always that those who receive poor education are from low-income families. Like strata in society, there are also strata of schools. As pupils gain different education in different schools, there are disparities in education. According to Abhijit Pathak, in his Social Implications of Schooling, 2002
“schooling intensifies the existing divide between the elite and the masses.”
Even if we do not count the private schools, all the so-called ‘good and successful’ government schools are in urban areas. Thus, while the Indian government runs many questionable schools, it also runs some schools of the highest quality. In 2014–15, the average (median) expenditure in government schools (at INR 16,151) was 58% of that in its Kendriya Vidyalayas (INR 27,723). There are some government-run schools for bureaucrats in transferable jobs. How students are treated depends on their parents’ class. According to a report of Pratichi Trust titled The Pratichi Education Report, 2002, educational attainment levels also depend on economic and cultural factors. According to the report, children of SCs and STs do not attend schools during harvest season as they have to help their parents cultivate crops. Gender and caste discrimination impinge upon the chances of education, and often girls are forced to contribute to household chores, and schooling is a distinct second priority among the poor. For girls from the poorest families in India, the median number of years of education is zero, compared to 9.1 for those from the wealthiest families. There is more to this than unequal access to facilities of different classes. This is not just a function of unequal access to facilities of different classes. This is a reflection of what society and its institutions have been doing for thousands of years.
According to sociologist Satish Deshpande (2014), the lack of awareness and assistance for kids from these protected groups stems from a failure to recognize the underlying disadvantages that most rural and or Scheduled Caste/Tribe pupils confront. The failure of schools to instill empathy and sharing shows how the differentiated educational system has legitimized and perpetuated the notion that society may be “acceptably unequal” (Whitty 1998: 94).
The fact that India has a high tolerance for inequality and a widespread notion that the poor, disadvantaged populations and PWDs are partly accountable for their situation is at the heart of the problem. As a result, teachers, government officials, communities, and parents frequently have low expectations of girls and children in underprivileged groups, frequently absorbed by pupils, resulting in an intergenerational loop. At the same time, academic performance is prioritized by parents, teachers, and society as a whole over inclusion and equity objectives.
Things do not seem to be improving as quickly as they could. Indeed, the current COVID 19 Pandemic will make things even more difficult. The Digital divide between different classes of society makes the ‘new normal’ even more unequal. Millions of children will never return to schools because of this pandemic. Durkheim has explained education as the socialization of the younger generation. It is a continuous effort to impose ways of seeing and acting on the child, which he could not have arrived at spontaneously. Thus, education is the process of transmission of social heritage from generation to generation — in the case of India, the very social heritage is based on inequality and discrimination.
