Stop-gap analyses on education exclusion are primarily concerned with measuring access (e.g., enrolment rates, drop-out rates), rarely engaging with deeper processes of social stratification that lead to persistent inequities... [ view full abstract ]
Stop-gap analyses on education exclusion are primarily concerned with measuring access (e.g., enrolment rates, drop-out rates), rarely engaging with deeper processes of social stratification that lead to persistent inequities for vulnerable populations even when enrolment rates are high. Poor access, hence, education exclusion from this perspective, is often explained in terms of a deficit model or pathology of the poor.
Numerous studies show aggravated equity concerns for disadvantaged children in elementary education in India despite near universal enrolment. Discursive casteist, gendered, and class-based practices between teachers and students, and between students, are characterised by broader normative societal constructs, framing the experiences of education inclusion and exclusion. In short, while students from disadvantaged backgrounds may be nominally enrolled they may experience ‘silent exclusion’ within schools or classrooms, leading to deleterious learning effects and curtailing long-term access. Thus, it is not mere access to education, but ‘meaningful access’ that is important in progress towards education inclusion.
While some recent qualitative work details aspects of experienced education exclusion in India, there is limited effort to quantitatively apply the concept to measure experiential factors. This paper attempts to advance the concept of silent exclusion by operationalizing experiential factors into a measurable index. We analyse silent exclusion within the classroom using primary data on 1250 school-aged children collected through the Insights into Education Household Survey in 2015. Children attended a heterogenous mix of government and unrecognised and recognised private schools in one catchment area in Delhi.
Silent exclusion of marginalised groups presents itself in deep and wide-ranging forms. We create the complex variable, ‘silent exclusion’, using indicators on reported experiences of leadership opportunities, discriminatory practices, and happiness, as an initial step because of their relevance to the concept, as well as the availability of data in the survey tool.
