Equality of Educational Opportunities

     What is Equality of Educational Opportunity?

One of the stark realities of human society is inequality or what the sociologists call social stratification.  It has been existing in some form or other in all societies.  In India inequality of educational opportunities is a reality that has been existing for generations.  In the traditional caste system education was the prerogative of the upper castes.  The British policy of providing English education to the elite resulted in direct neglect of mass education.  The British policy, therefore, accentuated the inequality of educational opportunities imposed by the traditional caste system.  In India, inequality of educational opportunities has been inherited from our past generations. 

       After independence we adopted a Constitution.  The Preamble of the Indian Constitution emphasizes equality of status and of opportunity.  Article 15 provides.  The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of the advancement of women, children,  SC and ST.  In spite of all this inequality still exists.

What is Inequality?

Inequality means that certain individuals or groups in a society are in a relatively disadvantageous situation in regard to access to and possession of various societal resources such as wealth, power, education and occupation.  In the sphere of education some have no access to school, and some have limited access.  Some children get all the opportunities to receive education of the type they need.  Some children do not get the opportunity for receiving the basic education.  In some cases so many opportunities are available that children have to choose to decide.  In other cases children have no option than to accept what is even undesirable.

What is Equality?

To put in simple words, equality is said to exist only when inequality has been removed.  But in reality inequality is not totally eliminated.  Whatever measures may be taken to ensure equality, inequality will exist to some degree.  Thus what the programmes of equality do or can do is to narrow down the inequalities.  It means “elimination of that level or type of inequality which is considered undesirable or unacceptable within the society.”   Thus the pursuit of equality aims not at total equality in the philosophical sense, but at an equitable distribution societal resources.

      Modern society views education as an important societal resource and a means of achieving the goal of egalitarianism.  Education is looked upon as a means of raising the social status of an individual in various ways.   It is accepted as a basic human need to have a desirable quality of life.  Given equal opportunity for general, vocational, technical and professional education most citizens can have equal status in the society.  Education is often considered as an equalizer.

     Education can be expected to function as an equalizer in the context of equality of opportunity in education.  Equality of educational opportunities means that every child has a right to education.  No individual is deemed access to any level or type of education or is handicapped in educational achievements solely on account of his personal attributes or primordial identities.  “Equality of educational opportunities is one of the goals of the ideology of egalitarianism.  However, inequality of educational opportunities exists throughout the world and more so in India.

     These considerations imply that we have to give equal chance to every citizen for the development of his or her capacity or ability, and nothing should be allowed to obstruct one’s path of development.  Particularly special attention is to be given to the underprivileged, the disadvantaged, the disabled, women and other children from backward communities.

Need/ Importance of Equalization of Educational Opportunities:

The Education Commission (1964-66) has observed:  “One of the important social objectives of education is to equalize opportunity, enabling the backward of underprivileged classes and individuals to use education as lever for the improvement of their condition.  Every society that values social justice and is anxious to improve the lot of the common man and cultivate all available talent must ensure progressive equality of opportunity to all sections of the population.  This is the only guarantee for the building up of an egalitarian and Equality of educational opportunities. The observation of Kothari Commission indicates the need of importance of equalization of educational opportunities as follows:

I.It is needed for the establishment of an egalitarian society.

II.It is needed for the success of democracy.

III. It is needed to ensure social and economic development of our country.

IV.     It is needed to identify the talent in various fields.

V.  It is needed to develop human resources and to meet the man power needs of our country.

VI. It is needed to promote social justice.

VII. It is needed to minimize the educational gap between the privileged and the underprivileged.

Causes of Inequality in respect of education opportunities:

A large number of factors are responsible for inequality in respect of educational opportunities.  Some of the notable causes of inequality are as follows:

I. Absence of the National system of Education.  At present our eduation system has not been nationalized.  Both public  and private agencies are at work in the area of school Education is the greatest obstacle in the way of equality of educational opportunities.

II. Regional Imbalance:  There are regional imbalances in educational opportunities in different States, different districts and blocks.  There are areas where facilities for higher education are not available.  Even there are areas having no facility for elementary education.  In some areas primary schools exist, but they are incomplete.  In these areas boys and girls do not get equal opportunity for education. 

III. Poverty of Parents:  Poverty of parents is a major cause of inequality of educational opportunities.  Children from poor families fail to attend educational institutions where education/training is expensive.  Children from affluent families get all facilities which they need -  text books, work books, dress and everything which poor children do not get.

IV.   Differential Standard of Educational Institutions:  Children from poor families receive education in substandard institutions which are not properly equipped with teachers, teaching aids and apparatus.  Usually urban schools and colleges are of better standard than rural schools and colleges.  Differences in the standard of educational institutions ultimately cause inequality in the standard of students.

V.   Differences in the Home Environment:  Inequality also arises from differences in the home environment of children.  In most of the families parents are illiterate and their children are first generation learners.  These children do not get the needed encouragement, help and academic support from parents.  On the contrary children from educated families get all the support and encouragement from their parents for their education.  This causes inequality among children. 

VI.  Gender Disparity:  Another cause of educational inequality is the wide disparity between the education of boys and girls at all stages also causes inequality in all areas of education.   Usually parents value more and take care of education of their sons, which the girl child in the family is neglected.  The curriculum is also not suited to the needs and problems of the girls.  In many cases expectation of parents and teachers for their sons and daughters also vary.  Teachers’ expectation and parental expectation are reflected in children’s performance. 

VII.  Disparity between the Advantaged and the Disadvantaged:  Disparity between the upper class and lower class of the society is always been a crucial issue.  In the sphere of education also disparity exists between the advantaged community or the upper class and the disadvantaged community or the lower class.  Educational expansion and other educational measures are found mostly in advantaged communities and are meant for upper class children.  The disadvantaged groups, particularly the SC and ST are deprived of all developmental programmes.  Even in some cases such children do not have the opportunities for minimum education – elementary education.

References

Chaube, S.P (2006) "Foundations of Education", vikas publishing house pvt ltd, A-22, Sector-4, Noida- 201301 (up)
NCTE-2009