From Education For All To Education Only For Elites

Society affects education and education affects society, both are mutually dependent and interrelated in modern complex society. In simple primitive society, the task of providing education to the ward was the responsibility of the parents/family members. They transmitted the knowledge, skills from one generation to another through practical learning i.e. child learnt the art of sculpture from his father. But in modern complex society, as the word complex suggests, the parents/family cannot teach or transfer the required skills, because it is based on specialisation in addition with modern skills and new techniques. Moreover, the needs and goals of modern society are different from the simple primitive society. Thus the task of providing education is taken over by formal institutions.

India as we know claims itself as a welfare state and education is mentioned in the concurrent list of both central and state government. Education, which is something as of now, is operating under both public as well as private sector. The problem starts showing up as the role of government is decreasing day by day on the one hand while the role of private sector is increasing on the other. It is inevitable in every country that there is a marginalised section of population which is alienated from the mainstream society in terms of socio-economic and political aspects. For an organism to function normal and proper, it must take care of every part of the body and, so, for the progress of country it is necessary to take care of each and every part of the society to function properly .

Here I am interested to throw some light on the concept of privatisation of education and its impact on marginalised communities.

What is privatisation of education?  It is the process which can be defined as the transfer of activities, assets and responsibility from government or public educational institutions and organisations to private individuals and agencies, including companies, religious institutions and NGOs, etc.

Who are marginalised communities? All those people who are coming from socially vulnerable categories like women, persons with disabilities (PWD’S), Schedule castes, Schedule tribes, sexual minorities ( LGBT), some religious minorities and a few OBC’s.

Impact Of Privatisation Of Education On Marginalised Communities:

Marginalized groups fail to enjoy the bulk of positive impacts and also bear the disproportionate burden of the negative impact of privatisation of education. The patriarchal system is deeply embedded into the DNA of Indian society, and it is hard to think about equality in the society which is dominated by patriarchal values. We can witness patriarchy working and influencing every sphere of day to day life. India’s 60 percent of population (approx) is located in rural areas where people are highly conservative and  economically poor (with few exceptions). Statistics reveal that the rate of literacy in rural areas is very low irrespective of their economic stability, even rich from rural areas have a low literacy rate. Most of the marginalised groups are living in rural areas and because of privatisation of education they have to bear additional burden upon them.

Impact on Women and Rural Areas:

Compared with public education, private education is relatively more expensive. In societies like India, boys are given priority over girls. Higher costs of education make it less likely for girls to be enrolled in private institutions because of parents’ expectations and attitudes towards them who prefer to invest in boys keeping in view the monetary returns  as boys stay with parents whereas girls are married off elsewhere. It is to be noted that girl’s inability to get private education is not always related to economic affordability. There are many other factors which determine their enrollment in private education namely accessibility, social norms, religious and cultural beliefs which limit educational opportunities for girls. Girls are preferred to be docile, submissive and obedient, the notion that they should be learning and doing household activities instead like preparing food, cleaning and washing are some other factors related to culture.

Physical safety of girls especially when they have to travel a long distance to school is always a matter of concern for many. Since majority of private schools are located in urban areas, it makes the accessibility of private institutions a complex issue for rural people as  parents don’t like to send their ward due to security concerns. Many parents don’t prefer co-education because of their cultural and religious beliefs and, as we know, most of private schools offer only co-education. The private bodies don’t have any social commitment to open schools and colleges in rural areas because their market (potential users) operates profitably only in urban areas i.e. urban middle classes are the largest consumers (sometimes mindless) of private bodies.

Impact On SCs And STs :

The Government of India has officially documented castes and sub-castes, primarily to determine those deserving reservations, i.e. positive discrimination in education. The SCs generally consist of Dalits, and STs consist of tribes. The main objective of Indian reservation system is to increase the social and educational status of underprivileged groups, these being economically, politically and socially poor and backward. The reservation system is only applicable in public institutions. Earlier in public institutions these groups, at least to some extent, enjoyed the fruit of reservation which enabled them to move upward on the ladder of social mobility. Now due to privatisation of education their hopes, dreams and aspirations have been jeopardized. Next is the issue of identity and language of tribes. Due to privatisation of education, tribes might lose their tribal identity and English language is a big hurdle because many of tribes are not familiar with reading and writing and teachers are not properly trained to handle tribal students since every tribe has its own distinct language, way of life , customs and practices. There is a growing communication gap between the teachers and students which adds to their marginality in school. Furthermore it will make them more vulnerable, deprived and marginalised if this trend follows in near future.

Impact on Persons With Disabilities (PWDs):

Disability may be physical as well as mental. First of all, many private institutions don’t admit the PWDs which is against the fundamental and human rights. In some cases, even if they are admitted, they face a lot of discrimination on the ground of their disability. They are not provided with proper and required facilities like trained teachers to teach them, disabled friendly curriculum, infrastructure etc. It is the responsibility of the state and private institutions to work in the interest of every section of population. The aim and objectives of the private institutions is function for one group and dysfunction for the other. The current trend suggests that the state and the private bodies are serving and fulfilling only the interest of elites and higher middle class. For any nation to progress and develop economically and socially, it should take into consideration every section of the population.

To conclude on a pessimistic note, if the this trend of privatisation of education continues, “Education For All”, the slogan given by UNESCO aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults, will soon be changed to “Education Only for Elites”.

References 

1. Abrol, Monika. (2016). Emerging Trends of Privatization of Education inIndia. International Journal of Educational Administration, 8(1),1-6.
2. Ravi.S.S. (2015). Impact of Privatisation of Education in Indian Society. Journal of Culture, Society and Development, vol(6).
3. Educativa, A. (2014, July 7) Privatization and its Impact on the Right to Education of Women and Girls. Retrieved from( cmeespana.org › media › publicaciones