Structural Mechanisms Shaping Caste-based Inequality in Indian Education: Segregation, Resource Allocation, and Private Schooling
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| 100 | 1 | |a Edara, Rohitha | |
| 245 | 1 | |a Structural Mechanisms Shaping Caste-based Inequality in Indian Education: Segregation, Resource Allocation, and Private Schooling | |
| 260 | |b ProQuest Dissertations & Theses |c 2025 | ||
| 513 | |a Dissertation/Thesis | ||
| 520 | 3 | |a Education is often hailed as a “great equalizer” or a “social elevator” that fosters upward mobility. While this promise holds some truth, formal schooling systems frequently fall short of realizing these ideals. In fact, scholars such as Pierre Bourdieu have illuminated the numerous ways in which formal education can reproduce and even exacerbate existing socioeconomic inequalities. Understanding the mechanisms within educational systems that perpetuate inequalities is an essential first step toward fulfilling the broader goals and promises of education. Guided by this rationale, this dissertation examines the nature and current state of multiple potential mechanisms within the Indian school system that contribute to the reinforcement of caste-based inequalities. The first two studies expand the current state of knowledge regarding caste-based segregation and resource inequalities in schools across India, respectively. The third study focuses on the role of private schools in perpetuating segregation by evaluating the outcomes of a policy aimed at promoting access for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.In Study 1 (Chapter 2), I explore the extent, scale, and patterns of caste-based segregation in Indian schools. Despite widespread evidence of caste-based disparities in educational outcomes in India, school-based factors driving these disparities have not received sufficient scholarly attention. This paper addresses one potential factor by examining patterns and trends in caste-based segregation in Indian schools between 2007-08 and 2017-18 using school-level data from the District Information System in Education (DISE). The main findings are: (1) Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) students face high levels of isolation in schools and have low likelihood of interaction with the most privileged students i.e., students who do not have access to affirmative action programs. (2) Intensely segregated schools are widespread with 29.1 percent of schools in 2017-18 enrolling 90 percent or more students from a single caste category. (3) Segregation indices at the national level have not substantially changed between 2007-08 and 2017-18. (4) Segregation varies by region, with Central, South, and West regions showing greater caste-based evenness in distribution of students across schools compared to the national average. (5) Close to 60 percent of school segregation can be attributed to caste imbalance within districts, highlighting the importance of local segregative processes in driving overall segregation. As the first systematic and quantitative analysis of caste-based school segregation in India, this study establishes foundational evidence on the nature and current state of school segregation in the country. In doing so, it also calls for greater attention to residential and school segregation in both research and policymaking.Study 2 (Chapter 3), titled ‘Caste-based Disparities in Educational Inputs in India’, assesses the extent of caste-based disparities in access to school resources, how they have changed between 2007-08 to 2017-18, and the mechanisms driving these disparities. In this study, school resources were divided into three categories: infrastructural facilities such as playgrounds and electricity, learning resources such as libraries and computers, and teacher qualifications. While disparities in some infrastructural resources such as access to separate restrooms for girls and drinking water facilities have reduced substantially between 2007-08 and 2017-18, many Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) students continued to face substantial disadvantages in access to many of the resources under study. The largest disadvantages lie in access to a functioning electricity connection and computers. In 2017-18, a one-unit increase in the share of ST students in a school in 2017-18 was associated with a 1.7 percent and 2.1 percent decrease in the likelihood of having electricity and at least one computer in the school, respectively. The disadvantages are smaller for SC students but still substantial. In the same year, with every unit’s increase in the share of SC students, the likelihood of having electricity and at least one computer in the school fell by 0.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. Both groups also experience a significantly lower number of computers per student, and ST students’ schools have a smaller share of teachers with bachelor’s degrees. While some disparities in access for SC students reduced in magnitude or became statistically insignificant after controlling for school characteristics, disparities for ST students persisted even after controlling for school size, urbanicity, and school management. These results suggest that SC students’ disadvantage in access to resources may be, to some extent, reflecting their disproportionate attendance in rural and government schools while ST students have lower access to resources across a range of settings.Finally, Study 3 (Chapter 4) assesses the effectiveness of RTE Section 12(1)(c) implementation in reducing enrollment gaps in private schools and promoting caste-based integration in private schools and for entire districts. This clause in the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 expanded affirmative action to private primary schools by requiring unaided private schools to reserve 25 percent of their admissions for students from marginalized castes and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. States that implemented Section 12(1)(c) show greater reductions in enrollment gaps in private schools, especially for SC and OBC (Other Backwards Classes) students compared to Other (OTH) students belonging to privileged castes. There is also weak evidence for the clause’s influence on reducing the share of RTE-mandated private schools where OBC students formed a significant majority. Most of the reductions in enrollment gaps were driven by early implementation cohorts; this may be due to delayed impact of the program or because early implementation coincides with greater political support. We do not observe overall reductions in segregation across private and public schools, but earlier implementation cohorts show small but statistically significant reductions in the uneven distribution of students by caste. There is no substantiating evidence for reductions in the OTH-ST enrollment gap or the share of OTH-majority intensely-segregated private schools. These results suggest that Section 12(1)(c) implementation is not associated with improved access for the most marginalized group of students (i.e., ST students) or greater integration in the most elite private schools. More thorough implementation may be needed to achieve caste-based integration in private schools but must be balanced with stronger government schools for students not participating in Section 12(1)(c). | |
| 653 | |a Enrollments | ||
| 653 | |a Statistical data | ||
| 653 | |a Private schools | ||
| 653 | |a Student participation | ||
| 653 | |a Decomposition | ||
| 653 | |a Drinking water | ||
| 653 | |a Absenteeism | ||
| 653 | |a Hirsch index | ||
| 653 | |a Teachers | ||
| 653 | |a Affirmative action | ||
| 653 | |a Segregation | ||
| 653 | |a Geography | ||
| 653 | |a Computers | ||
| 653 | |a Poverty | ||
| 653 | |a Textbooks | ||
| 653 | |a Computer assisted instruction--CAI | ||
| 653 | |a Pandemics | ||
| 653 | |a Access to education | ||
| 653 | |a Information systems | ||
| 653 | |a Education policy | ||
| 653 | |a Educational sociology | ||
| 653 | |a Educational technology | ||
| 653 | |a Epidemiology | ||
| 653 | |a Information technology | ||
| 653 | |a Instructional design | ||
| 653 | |a Water resources management | ||
| 773 | 0 | |t ProQuest Dissertations and Theses |g (2025) | |
| 786 | 0 | |d ProQuest |t ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global | |
| 856 | 4 | 1 | |3 Citation/Abstract |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3266811883/abstract/embedded/H09TXR3UUZB2ISDL?source=fedsrch |
| 856 | 4 | 0 | |3 Full Text - PDF |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3266811883/fulltextPDF/embedded/H09TXR3UUZB2ISDL?source=fedsrch |