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
