Caste Discrimination in School Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT newlineThis thesis studies three aspects of caste discrimination of Scheduled Caste children in schools: newlinedisparity in educational outcomes, biases in school textbooks, and differential treatment of newlineScheduled Caste children in processes of schooling. Although scholarship on school education of newlineScheduled Caste recognises the prevalence of caste based practices in school, very little research in newlinerecent times has focussed on explaining how the institution of caste influences and shapes the newlineeducation of Scheduled Castes. My study focuses on the State of Odisha which has around 17 per newlinecent Scheduled Caste population. newlineI conducted an analysis of persons who were never enrolled or never attended school, dropout rates, newlineand learning outcomes for those in the 6-18 age groups, based on household level secondary data. newlineThe results showed that educational status of Scheduled Castes improved in Odisha between 2001- newline2017. Using different data sets and 3 variables the analysis found Scheduled Caste children were newlineworse off than Children from all other castes (except Scheduled Tribe) in terms of absolute newlineachievement and rate of improvement. newlineTo understand caste biases in knowledge representation, contents of 10 school textbooks were newlineanalyzed at two levels: biases in space allocation, and biases in representation. The analysis found newlineScheduled Castes were invisible in seven textbooks, and among all the caste groups Scheduled newlineCastes occupied the least space in the textbooks. To study caste biases for the first time in India, the newlineframework originally provided by David Sadker and Myra Sadker was contextualized for evaluating newlinethe contents of the selected textbooks. The analysis found all seven types of biases: invisibility, newlineimbalance and selectivity, stereotype, unreality, cosmetic bias, linguistic bias, and fragmentation bias. newlineThe analysis showed textbooks propagated the values and norms associated with the dominant newlinesocial groups and strengthened and reinforced already existing caste-based prejudices. It showed that newlinexiiithere was a lack of conscious effort to make the curriculum inclusive particularly from the newlineperspective of Scheduled Caste communities. newlineTo capture everyday forms of caste discrimination in processes of schooling, the thesis studied the newlineexperiences of Scheduled Caste children in a backward location of Odisha. Using the framework newlineinitially developed by Geetha Nambissan in 2009, and later modified and elaborated upon by newlineSukhdeo Thorat and Nidhi Sabharwal (2010) the study examined caste based discrimination in schools newlineunder three main categories: discrimination with respect to access to schools, including facilities and newlineresources, discrimination with respect to participation in curricular and co-curricular activities, and newlinediscrimination as it affects social relationships with teachers and peers. Based on seven focus group newlinediscussion in six villages of Kalampur block of Kalahandi district of Odisha the thesis showed the newlinemanner in which caste based norms and practices were integrated into processes of schooling on a newlineday-to-day basis favouring upper caste children and at the same time denying equitable learning newlineopportunities for Scheduled Caste children. newlinexiv newline