Unfinished work of equality
To improve the educational status of Scheduled Castes, a fresh understanding of their achievements and challenges is necessary.
Written by Govardhan Wankhede | Updated: June 9, 2015 6:48 am
The concern of scholars, planners and policymakers has been to achieve the goals set in our Constitution: equality, justice and equal opportunity for all. However, in the period after Independence, it was revealed that education was not necessarily linked to social and economic development and the majority of Indians continued to lag behind in educational attainments. The disadvantaged suffer because of multiple factors: one, the nation’s views and goals in education; two, the implementation policies and processes; three, their traditional handicaps; and four, increasing requirements in the quality of education and skills.
The Constitution has special provisions to bring marginalised communities on par with others. Due to the internal contradictions of these communities and external forces that demand quality and performance, the role of education and the special provisions have proved to be limited. Marginalised communities like the SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities have traditionally been disadvantaged in terms of access, equity, performance and utility of education. Multiple socio-economic, cultural and political factors have led to caste, regional and rural-urban differences within disadvantaged groups. Maharashtra, despite its history of social and political movements for social transformation, continues to perform poorly in education of SCs. It’s important to emphasise that SCs are not a homogeneous group but a heterogeneous one with a hierarchical structure.
It was felt necessary to understand the educational situation among the SCs of Maharashtra, for which a study was undertaken. It’s relevant to identify and analyse the issues pertaining to the level and type of education that they choose, the type of schools and colleges they join, how they perform, what problems they face and how strongly these link up to their family background. It is necessary to establish the facts with an empirical probe. This article attempts to probe deeper, based on primary data and observations directly from the field. The original study was part of an all-India project on the educational status of SCs and STs, covering 19 states, and was funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.
Almost a fifth of SC households reported continuing with their traditional occupations, which are tightly linked to discrimination and low income. B.R. Ambedkar’s movement helped SCs break away from their caste-based occupations, change their work as well as religion. Almost the same percentage in our sample is employed in low-profile government jobs. These changes go up to two generations and the impact is seen in educational attainments, challenges and aspirations of the heads of households. Almost half of the households in the sample still face financial constraints. Around 80 per cent of heads of SC households had only studied till the secondary level or lower. The higher the level of education, the fewer the number of SC household heads
