How the New Education Policy turns a Blind Eye to Marginalised Communities and Gender Inclusivity
With the promise to revamp the Indian education system from primary school to higher education, the New Education Policy of 2020 focuses on imparting essential skills to students while also providing a multidisciplinary education. Some of the key clauses include adequate focus on the foundational school years, conduction of board examinations twice, introduction of ‘transferable credit’ from an incomplete degree, etc. Although the policy claims to be progressive and recognises “inclusion and equity” at the cornerstone of all educational decisions, it disregards the issues of students from marginalised communities and the question of gender inclusivity. The policy’s complete denial of the existence of caste and the LGBTQIA+ community makes one question whether it really aims for everyone to be integrated into the education system.
The India Exclusion Report 2014 by the Centre for Equity Studies highlights how Indian schools continue to practice caste discrimination and social exclusion. But it does not end at the schools which is why it is necessary for an education policy to present a clear acknowledgment of the gap between the starting line for the elite and the marginalised. Excluding few mandatory mentions of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs, the new education policy does not discuss any caste-based oppression in the educational sector. The main issue with this absence of caste in the 66-page document is its lack of any mention of reservation. With no equitable access to institutions for students from Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the clauses consequently encourage private institutions to give small offerings of scholarships and assistance to the “meritorious” underprivileged students. By vitalising globalisation and privatisation of education, the state receded from its responsibility to provide affordable, accessible education for all. Increasing autonomy of private institutions and the lack of sufficient funding will make them resort to changes in the free structure, widening the gap between the financially capable and incapable students. Without adequate financial support in place for the marginalised sections, a huge percentage of students will not be able to enter the corridors of these institutions. By creating an atmosphere where equity, inclusion and access are not given priority, the policy clouds the welfare lens through which the state needs to view education.
The policy also dedicates a major portion to the role that technology will play in improving educational processes and outcomes in the coming years. However, a major failure of the policy is that it fails to highlight the educational inequalities that will manifest from over-reliance on technology and the internet. The pandemic has brought the many inequalities in the distribution of technology to the forefront. Not everyone in the country is equipped with stable internet access, especially the marginalised sections. Data also shows that with the pandemic, 40 million people in India have been pushed into poverty and affording online education is an expensive affair for this population.
The policy contains a portion on providing “quality and equal” education to girls and transgender students. This is problematic since it clubs all gender identities under two terms and ignores the identities that lie outside the binary. A policy that claims to transform the educational setup of the country should also specify measures for making schools safe and inclusive, especially for the underrepresented minorities. A study conducted by UNESCO in 2018 found that out of 400 LGBTQIA+ youth, approximately 60 percent of these students are physically bullied in middle school, and 43 percent of them have been more than once sexually harassed in their primary school, based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Sexual or physical bullying can often have drastic consequences — depression and anxiety, lower academic performance, reduced social interactions, and dropouts from school. There are no provisions that aim to lay down concrete measures to handle these harmful acts of bullying and violence. Gender-sensitisation measures are essential to the school staff, and to contribute towards a healthier school environment.
With false hopes to bridge the gaps between the current state of the educational sector learning and the future needs, the new policy might end up increasing inequalities and the divide between the privileged and the underprivileged. If we are reimagining our education system, we need to make sure that it includes those that are often marginalised. The only way to have a more accessible and inclusive education is to rethink the rigid society that continues to oppress marginalised communities and cement them in place, halting their progress.
This article has been written by Shambhavi Tewari, a senior at Seth M.R. Jaipuria School, Lucknow, India and a member of the Rethinking Economics India Network. She is pursuing the ISC Diploma in Humanistic Studies and is interested in gender violence in conflict regions in India and across the world. Occasionally indulges in literary and cultural comparativism through her heaps of books, while performing postmodernist critiques of public policies in her head.
