The issue of education inequality in India is quite complex, mainly because no one knows how or when it became so prevalent. There are a variety of causes that contribute to education inequality, and just as many opinions on which of these causes are the most widespread, potent, and urgent. After much research, I’ve formed my own opinions on what contributes to education inequality the most, and there are two articles that stood out to me particularly: one from a group of authors in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and one from OXFAM India by a singular author, Anjela Taneja.
Taneja’s article from OXFAM, titled “How can India’s education system escape the vicious cycle of inequality and discrimination?” begins by calling out the outrageous financial divide in India, stating “the top 1% individuals hold more than 4 times the amount of wealth held by 953 million people.” The wealth of India’s elite not only puts the country’s poorer population to shame but exceeds even the government as Taneja states, “The total wealth of Indian billionaires is higher than the total Union Budget of India for the fiscal year 2018-19” (Taneja, 2020).
While billionaires having exponentially higher amounts of money than average people is a disturbingly common trend around the world, their wealth exceeding even the country’s budget shows the struggle the Indian economy is going through. India’s government is highly dependent on stimulation from billionaires, so often policies put into place mirror the interests of higher tax brackets. This has disastrous consequences, especially in education, as the government has to direct money from key areas like education to industry.
Money is not the only factor Taneja mentions, as she states that “class, linguistic background, gender, ethnicity and place of birth” all have a dramatic impact on a child’s education. I agree with all these points, as someone poorer will surely have a tougher time finding affordable schooling and someone who lives in a rural location might have trouble getting to school. However, I particularly agreed with her statements about discrimination through class, gender, and ethnicity, which I have seen firsthand from my time in India.
Class has been an essential part of Indian society for centuries, and while discrimination has lessened greatly in recent decades, casual racism and classism is all too common around India. Every Indian is thought to be born into a spiritual caste, with the poorest people usually belonging to the lowest class, called the untouchables. Among India’s conservative population, anyone poor is automatically assumed to be unholy, and classism prevents poor people from getting a proper and equal education, locking them into a cycle of poverty. Also, many North Indians are racist towards South Indians who have darker skin, leading to another opportunity for racist schools to deny particular students entry.
Beyond widespread racism, I would like to talk about another key point Taneja mentions: gender. Gender inequality is another huge problem in India, a topic that can be discussed for hours. It is so significant in this context because India has a subtle but very present system of systematic sexism in place in schools. Most schools are either boys only or girls only, and from things I have heard from cousins back in India the levels and quality of education can differ by gender as well. Thus, gender is another prominent cause of education inequality in India.
Taneja blames most of these issues on the Indian government, attributing them to a lack of reliable policies, poor implementation of current legislation, and a shortage of resources being given to schools. While she has valid points regarding these complaints, I disagree. While I concede that the Indian government could improve their approach to dealing with discrimination, I want to tie back to the Stanford article to show that the Indian government is not as careless and incompetent as they seem. To explain this, it is important to know that aside from government grants, charities and donations are one of the largest sources of income for poorer Indian schools and do the most to improve education, particularly in underprivileged communities.
Because most charities and donors are overseas, the Indian government has done a lot in recent years to inspire for Indians living abroad to give back, like making “it easier for diaspora members to visit, invest, and open rupee bank accounts in India,” and by creating the Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs, which “coordinate[s] trade, academic exchange, heritage exploration, and philanthropy between India and its diaspora” as stated by accredited authors Rohit Menezes, Sonali Madia Patel, and Daniel Pike in their Stanford article “Giving Back to India”. The Indian government’s policies have shown that it is open to bettering foreign relationships, and it encourages letting charities and individuals donate to help problems it does not have the resources or leadership to take care of itself, like education inequality. Therefore, I disagree with Taneja’s assertion that the government is completely ignorant and cruel, though I realize that the problems she mentions are very prevalent in India. One of these, which both the OXFAM and Stanford articles mention, is corruption (Menezes et. al, 2015).
Corruption in India is all-too prevalent and is one of the key reasons why issues like education inequality take so long to improve. In the same Stanford article “Giving Back to India,” Menezes, Patel, and Pike claim the reason a lot of Indian Americans and Indian citizens are reluctant to give back to India is because of the widespread corruption they have witnessed and experienced in all levels of government. Having seen this myself and by hearing stories from relatives, this is an issue I wholeheartedly agree must be improved before India can make real progress eliminating education inequality (Menezes et. al, 2015).
In both the OXFAM and Stanford articles, Taneja, Patel, Pike, and Menezes make a variety of points discussing the causes of education inequality, all of which I agree with. However, I have a slightly differing opinion on the Indian government’s role in this issue, because while there is a lot to be done on their part to end education inequality, they have made big steps in recent years to address it. The issues that Taneja describes--gender inequality, classism, racism, and corruption--are problems that are much more significant and must be addressed by not just the government, but society as a whole. Only after this will every child, teenager, and adult get the education they need and rightfully deserve.