Exclusion in higher education in rural Punjab role of socio economic status neo liberal policies and school experiences

Abstract

Exclusion in higher education refers to the non-enrolment of rural students in higher education. The study focused on the educational exclusion that occurs due to the socio-economic conditions of the family, due to the state policies and at an institution level through school experiences as push/pull factors. Four districts namely Tarntaran, SBS Nagar, Mansa and Sri Muktsar Sahib were purposively selected for data collection. Further, two schools from each district were selected randomly to get the information about the students who have passed their 12th class from the respective schools. newlineTotal 227 students who have left their studies were selected to get the information relevant to the present study using the purposive sampling technique. A total number of 80 parents were selected to get their views and perceptions about the phenomenon of educational exclusion of their children. It is concluded that the educational exclusion of rural students is not eventual phenomenon rather it is a process which has multiple reasons of exclusion. The impact of neoliberal policies clearly reflect that the exclusion of rural students at higher education happened more sharply due to the privatization and commercialization of higher education. It is emerged that the socioeconomic conditions of the family, unavailability of the educational institutions near home, poor academic background at school level, medium of instruction etc. are the reported reasons for the exclusion in higher education. It is concluded that all these factors are interwoven and conjointly result into the systemic exclusion of the students from higher education. newline newline