I need to return to my essential question of inclusion and access. I recognize that I am only seeing a small snippet in my travels here, and will try not to overgeneralize. The fact that the majority of my experience with the educational system has been in the most economically and educationally progressive state, that of Kerala.
But as India works through its economic and infrastructure issues, I see evidence everywhere that they are striving more and more toward a model of economic and educational inclusion. In the Poonjar school, we have students with varying degrees of both mental and physical disabilities, and I never witness exclusionary practices. Pyari tells me that many of the students are extremely poor, by Kerala standards. They appear to receive an equal amount of attention and love from their teachers.
As we learned earlier in the week, caste still plays a subliminal role in society, despite its banishment in the Indian constitution. But it is not the degrading caste system of old, at least not in the Kerala that we see. When we finally have time to discuss societal issues on a deeper level, Pyari tells me that caste continues to play a subtle role in their social groups, but that today it is more a single piece of one's ethnic identity. Jobs and seats in educational institutions are reserved for those of the lower caste, a practice in affirmative action that is as controversial here as in our own country.
Two additional educational practices legislated by India's federal government mirror efforts in our country:
And sadly, we saw evidence, even in progressive Kerala, of an ongoing blindness to the issue of educational access. For example, every middle class family seems to have at least one servant, most of whom appear to be adult residents of the surrounding area. However, we did occasionally come across servants who were well below the age of 18.
When I asked Pyari about it, he explained with disapproval that there are agencies who will send service people from poorer states (in one case, Bengal) to work in economically better off areas for a percentage of the servant's pay. He was concerned about the risks these families were taking, bringing strangers into their homes. But I am not sure that anyone I meet in Kerala, even those who are clearly progressive in their politics and practice, notice that some of these servants from other states should be attending school based on their age.
It reminds me of the disconnect we have in the United States with regard to our knowingly buying clothing and other commodities from companies that utilize child labor in other countries. I wonder if the vast diversity in language and culture that occurs between states in India makes it easier to ignore the plight of citizens from other areas of the country, in a similar manner too our oblivion to the plight of citizens in other countries.
Students engaged in traditional dance at Poonjar assembly
But as India works through its economic and infrastructure issues, I see evidence everywhere that they are striving more and more toward a model of economic and educational inclusion. In the Poonjar school, we have students with varying degrees of both mental and physical disabilities, and I never witness exclusionary practices. Pyari tells me that many of the students are extremely poor, by Kerala standards. They appear to receive an equal amount of attention and love from their teachers.
As we learned earlier in the week, caste still plays a subliminal role in society, despite its banishment in the Indian constitution. But it is not the degrading caste system of old, at least not in the Kerala that we see. When we finally have time to discuss societal issues on a deeper level, Pyari tells me that caste continues to play a subtle role in their social groups, but that today it is more a single piece of one's ethnic identity. Jobs and seats in educational institutions are reserved for those of the lower caste, a practice in affirmative action that is as controversial here as in our own country.
Two additional educational practices legislated by India's federal government mirror efforts in our country:
- The Midday Meal Scheme (MMS) attempts to do the same thing that our free and reduced lunch program does in the United States, guarantee that the poorest students receive at least one substantial meal a day. India implemented not only for its nutritional benefits, but for the incentive that it might give to families (particularly in rural areas) that wouldn't see value in sending their children to school otherwise.
- The Right to Education program (RTE) is far more controversial. It requires all private schools in India to reserve 25% of their student seats for children of poverty. This was intended to address the wildly uneven quality of public schools in India (because of this, most families who can afford to do so send their students to private schools) and the resulting educational inequities in some areas of the country. Two points of controversy: RTE increases the tuition of those who can afford to pay, since they are covering the additional costs with some help from the federal government, and (like the U.S.) the underlying concerns of some families about sending their children to school alongside students of other economic classes. The entire discussion and research we looked at was surprisingly parallel to the controversy in Massachusetts regarding the manner in which charter schools are funded.
Students from cadet corps (SPC)
Despite the philosophy and legislation that is clearly directed at improving educational access, India still faces some enormous issues "on the ground." While the government purports to support education for all, there are still a huge percentage of children, particularly in rural areas and poorer states, who do not attend school. And sadly, we saw evidence, even in progressive Kerala, of an ongoing blindness to the issue of educational access. For example, every middle class family seems to have at least one servant, most of whom appear to be adult residents of the surrounding area. However, we did occasionally come across servants who were well below the age of 18.
When I asked Pyari about it, he explained with disapproval that there are agencies who will send service people from poorer states (in one case, Bengal) to work in economically better off areas for a percentage of the servant's pay. He was concerned about the risks these families were taking, bringing strangers into their homes. But I am not sure that anyone I meet in Kerala, even those who are clearly progressive in their politics and practice, notice that some of these servants from other states should be attending school based on their age.
It reminds me of the disconnect we have in the United States with regard to our knowingly buying clothing and other commodities from companies that utilize child labor in other countries. I wonder if the vast diversity in language and culture that occurs between states in India makes it easier to ignore the plight of citizens from other areas of the country, in a similar manner too our oblivion to the plight of citizens in other countries.
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