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Equitable and Inclusive Education: Learning for All

 

6.1. Education is the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and equality. Inclusive and
equitable education - while indeed an essential goal in its own right - is also critical to achieving an
inclusive and equitable society in which every citizen has the opportunity to dream, thrive, and
contribute to the nation. The education system must aim to benefit India’s children so that no child
loses any opportunity to learn and excel because of circumstances of birth or background. This Policy
reaffirms that bridging the social category gaps in access, participation, and learning outcomes in
school education will continue to be one of the major goals of all education sector development
programmes. This Chapter may be read in conjunction with Chapter 14 which discusses analogous
issues of Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education.

6.2. While the Indian education system and successive government policies have made steady
progress towards bridging gender and social category gaps in all levels of school education, large
disparities still remain - especially at the secondary level - particularly for socio-economically
disadvantaged groups that have been historically underrepresented in education. Socio-Economically
Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) can be broadly categorized based on gender identities (particularly
female and transgender individuals), socio-cultural identities (such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes, OBCs, and minorities), geographical identities (such as students from villages, small towns,
and aspirational districts), disabilities (including learning disabilities), and socio-economic conditions
(such as migrant communities, low income households, children in vulnerable situations, victims of
or children of victims of trafficking, orphans including child beggars in urban areas, and the urban
poor). While overall enrolments in schools decline steadily from Grade 1 to Grade 12, this decline in
enrolments is significantly more pronounced for many of these SEDGs, with even greater declines for
female students within each of these SEDGs and often even steeper in higher education. A brief
status overview of the SEDGs that come within socio-cultural identities is given in following sub-
sections.

 

 

 

6.2.1. According to U-DISE 2016-17 data, about 19.6% of students belong to Scheduled Castes at the

primary level, but this fraction falls to 17.3% at the higher secondary level. These enrolment drop-

offs are more severe for Scheduled Tribes students (10.6% to 6.8%), and differently-abled children

(1.1% to 0.25%), with even greater declines for female students within each of these categories. The

decline in enrolment in higher education is even steepe .. Read More