educational quality and social inequality: reflecting on

contemporary

Educational Quality and Social Inequality Reflecting on the Link1

Rekha Pappu and DVasanta

Abstract It is argued that the perception of existing inequality within the field of school education gave rise to the language of rights but that normative notions of childhood underpinning educational discourses have not been sufficiently problematised The paper makes a case for productive convergence between the discourses of quality and inequality by drawing on the observations from a study of government schools in Andhra Pradesh Specifically the paper foregrounds the need for reflecting on the tacit agreement that exists within the education system about bracketing off questions of socio-cultural inequality when discussing issues of quality and learning goals on the one hand and the compartmentalisation of the language of rights on the other hand such that adequate attention has not yet been paid to questions of educational quality

In this paper we focus on two important aspects ie quality

and inequality which shape our present understanding of

school education Furthermore we seek to grasp the

manner in which discussions of each of these relate to one

another Our contribution to the discussion on this subject

draws on a study that we undertook at Anveshi Research

Centre for Womens Studies Hyderabad (Anveshi 2003) This

study which extended over a twondashyear period (2000ndash2002)

Rekha Pappu is an independent researcher based in Hyderabad and a research consultant with the Higher Education Cell Bangalore Her research interests include womens studies cultural studies and education rekhapappuyahoocom

D Vasanta is at the Department of Linguistics Osmania University Hyderabad and member of Anveshi Research Centre for Womens Studies Hyderabad She is trained as an audiologist and speechndashlanguage pathologist and is currently involved in research project on brain organisation in normative multilingualism Her research interests include education of the hearing impaired literacy studies and clinical linguistics vasantadgmailcom

contemporary Vol 7 No 1 January 2010 education dialogue

at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 10 2016cedsagepubcomDownloaded from

Educational Quality and Social Inequality Reflecting on the Link 95

involved an examination of the lives and experiences of 300

students of classes VI VII and VIII from 10 different

Government schools in and around Hyderabad in Andhra

Pradesh Our study was not directly aimed at investigating the

quality of education that the children received Instead our

awareness of their marginalised status within the society as

well as the educational system led us to explore how they

transacted the school curriculum We draw on some of the

insights gained from that study to comment on the present

discussions on school education in India discussions that are

increasingly being influenced by simultaneous concerns about

educational quality and social inequality

As terms that form a part of the discourse on education lsquolsquoquality and lsquoinequality have a longstanding history and have

been of central interest to educational theorists and 2philosophers in particular In our paper we draw upon such

self reflexive and sustained engagement with the subject but

also refer to the use of the terms in public discussions indexed

for instance by debates in newspapers It is worth noting that

the inclusion of a conception of quality in relation to issues of

school education in popular discussions is more recent when

compared to the emphasis on educational inequality

For a considerable period of time before and after

Independence debates on school education in India were

animated by concerns about the relevance of education to the 3lives of the students and the society of which they were a part

Gradually however the notion of quality has replaced the notion

of relevance The introduction and consistent use of the term

lsquoquality in the documents produced by the World Bank aided

District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in particular

ensured that where the term had thus far largely been used to

gauge the standard of consumption goods it now entered the

popular lexicon when discussing matters of school education 4as well

As regards the issue of inequality vis-a-vis school

education prior to the 1990s (marked in particular by the

introduction of liberalisation in the country) it was flagged

mainly through figures which revealed that large numbers of

children were never enrolled or had dropped out of the


96 Rekha Pappu and D Vasanta

educational system even before passing the primary level

Educational lsquoopportunity and lsquoaccess were the keywords in the

discussions during this phase prior to liberalisation Through

the decade of the 90s and beyond the rapid growth of private

schools and the progressive deterioration of government

schools added yet another dimension to the discussion of

inequality resulting in fact in bringing the discourse of quality

closer to that of inequality The aspect of inequality in this latter

phase was obvious from the fact that all those who could afford

it sent their wards to private schools while the government

schools were mainly populated by the poor The recognition of

uneven access to schooling brought with it alertness to

differences in schooling patterns including the medium of

instruction managements standards all of which came to now

be subsumed under the telegraphic invocation of the term

ldquoqualityrdquo Various newspaper columns reports and studies 5highlighted the poor quality of government schooling

Despite their convergence at certain points and in certain

moments discussions about quality and inequality in India

have been moving on distinct and parallel tracks for the most

part A thoroughgoing debate on the nature of the link between

these two key issues is yet to take place though signs of such a

beginning are now available in some recent discussions around

school education The more recent deliberations in connection

with the formulation of the National Curriculum Framework

(NCF) 2005 (National Council for Educational Research and

Training [NCERT] 2005) and the subsequent responses to the

document have in fact provided a rich context that could

facilitate the task of developing theories to link quality and

inequality concerns The many experiments and innovations

tried out in different government schools which have been

anthologised in Kumar and Sarangapani (2005) too provide

insights for connecting up quality questions with concerns 6about inequality

The debate around the Right to Education Bill which

subsequently became an Act through notification in August

2009 too has tangentially touched upon the link between the

two issues More such discussions are however needed before

the challenges involved in providing lsquoquality education to first

generation learners can be met



Admittedly the question of educational quality raised in the

context of social inequality is in itself a difficult one because the

standard for good education when it has been seriously and

systematically discussed has for thus long been in relation to a 7learner who does not lack in material terms In striking

contrast we are now confronted with the student of a

government school who is characterised by a series of lsquolacks

beginning with something as basic as lack of adequate food

reading material and ranging thereon to the lack of cultural

capital When quality education for this group of students is

emphasized by concerned individuals and institutions is a

standard universal quality being envisaged In which case the

discussion needs to dwell on the process by which the students

can attain that standard Or is an alternate conception of

quality being invoked when the demand for quality education

for children from lower socio-economic groups is being

stressed In this latter case the alternate conception then

needs to be elaborated in greater detail However we find in

most instances where quality education is being discussed that

these critical issues are rarely clarified

As mentioned before the Anveshi study too did not

conclusively answer the question about how quality should be

understood vis-a-vis the present generation of government

school students When we undertook the study quality was

only an embedded issue within our focus on curriculum

transaction However the attempt at understanding the micro

details of the lives of children going to government schools

forced our attention to aspects that were pertinent to the

schooling of the children who took admission into government

schools at that moment in time We sensed that with respect to

school education the widespread invocations of the terms

lsquoquality and lsquoinequality had an uneasy relationship with one

another and did not easily and completely accommodate each

others concerns

We seek to probe the reasons for this lack of fit between

what the two terms convey and the nature of the gap that exists

between them Such an examination necessarily involves a

more critical engagement with two aspects that are in turn

closely related to the predominant thinking about quality and

inequality i) the normative notions of childhood that



underwrite much of educational theory as also ii) the discourse

of rights through which the argument of education for all is

made We contend that even as notions of normative childhood

underpin both the concerns about quality as well as about the

right of every child to education a productive convergence

between the discourse of quality and of rights has not yet been 8possible The dominant conceptions of quality education are

more closely aligned with normative notions of childhood

whereas the rights discourse is primarily animated by concerns

of inequality Thus while quality related discussions are rarely

impacted by issues of inequality the rights discourse in relation

to education has paid insufficient attention to issues of quality

The rest of the paper seeks to elaborate the arguments

highlighted above We begin with a brief description of the

Anveshi study and draw attention to some of our findings

relevant to the topic of this paper Our observations from the

study are in themselves not unusual and have been repeatedly

emphasized by various scholars and activists What is different

however is the frame in which we seek to present these issues

The subsequent section on childhood discusses notions of

normative childhoods and their influence on both the theory

and practice of schooling The discussion on rights examines

the possibilities as well as the difficulties emerging from a focus

on the language of rights within the field of school education

The concluding section returns to some of the issues raised

above and emphasizes the need for developing frameworks that

would be able to simultaneously hold together concerns about

inequality and quality

Anveshis Study on School Education

The Anveshi study was carried out between 2000 and 2002

having as its backdrop an increased and high profile

intervention by the government of Andhra Pradesh in

elementary education through the introduction of many new

programs in the field of education The government envisaged

its task primarily in terms of enrolling children in schools and

retaining them for a minimum period of five years (Pappu

2005) The challenges involved were understood mainly in

terms of convincing parents to send their children to schools



and in terms of providing adequate infrastructure While the

state government did make a distinction between the

quantitative and qualitative dimension of the required inputs

on the whole it laid excessive stress on the former ie the

quantitative Targets as well as achievements were fixed in

terms of enumerable figures for infrastructure development

teacher recruitment and student enrolment Quality issues

were discussed at times in terms of basic literacy and numeracy

but most often through reference to unelaborated notions of

lsquojoyful learning

Within such a context the main objective of our study was

to understand the processes involved in curriculum

transaction by children belonging to working class families

studying in government schools in Andhra Pradesh When

curriculum transaction is viewed as it often is as translating

educational objectives (set by experts who are often not school

teachers) into practice propositions by the teachers the

underlying assumption is that every child in the classroom is

the same that the concept lsquochildhood has a fixed meaning

across socio-economic classes and communities and that if a

given child or a group of children are not doing well in a

particular subject the reason must be incapacity on the part of

the child or ignorance on the part of parents about matters of

education However by viewing curriculum transaction as a

series of micro operations involving contributions of pupils

parents teachers and school administrators our study sought

to gather empirical evidence about what was involved in the

process of the childrens negotiation of the school curriculum

We focused on ten different schools in and around

Hyderabad selected randomly from the computer database

maintained at the Department of School Education (DSE)

Andhra Pradesh For our study we chose the upper primary

classes (VI VII and VIII) since it is widely acknowledged that the

first level and largest drop out of students takes place before the

end of primary school In choosing students who had managed

to pass out of the first critical stage and had entered the next

level of schooling we sought to understand how they were

negotiating with the schooling process at this secondary level

Of the total population of 3240 children across these ten

schools we selected ten students from each class thus making



up a study sample of 300 children In the population from

which the sample was chosen 37 belonged to the Other

Backward Classes (OBC) 33 to Scheduled Castes (SC) and

7 to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) the remaining included

children from other minority groups such as Christians and

Muslims It is obvious from these figures that our observations

are based primarily on children from Backward Class (BC) SC

ST communities constituting close to 75 of the total number

of children we have studied The data computerised by the State

Government since 1995 (as mentioned by one of the officials at

the DSE) reveals that this composition of students is more or

less the same across different government schools

Our study assigned importance to multiple data sources

and forms The quantitative data was collected by three

research assistants using questionnaires in Telugu This

information was supplemented with qualitative data based on

home visits classroom observations and analyses of select 9prefaces and lessons from textbooks It is outside the scope of

this paper to present all the results in any meaningful fashion

However we provide below a brief summary of our findings

(without elaborating on any of them) but reproduce later in the

paper some of our observations and excerpts from interviews

conducted as part of the study in order to substantiate the line

of argument being pursued by us here

More than 90 of the mothers in our study belonged to the

categories of housendashworkers unorganised blue collar workers

(eg beedi makers) agricultural workers servant maids and

petty businesswomen (eg idlindashcart owners) whereas 90 of the

fathers occupations can be described as unorganised blue

collar workers (eg construction work) agricultural workers

petty businessmen (eg pan shop or hairndashcutting saloon) and

organised blue collar workers (eg office peons) A striking

though not surprising finding of our study was that a huge

majority of the children interviewed participated in the adult

world of work to supplement the familys meager income or to

ensure smooth functioning of the household Neither the

children nor the parents nor the teachers found this situation

unusual to say the least

The children covered in our study we found had negligible

reading material almost no access to libraries minimal



engagement with literate adults and little or no help with

homework The absence of an environment conducive to

schooling was striking An examination of the textbooks

revealed that the content of almost all the lessons was derived

from a context alien to theirs

Our classroom observations led us to conclude that an

educational context that called for a teacherndashstudent

relationship where encouragement and responsiveness would

constitute a kernel around which teaching and learning could

occur was largely missing Interviews with the children and

parents provided us with the insight that children who received

support and encouragement either from their school or tuition

teachers or other educated persons who they had contact with

did well in schools Others just dropped out of school Yet

others and they formed the majority did not actively engage

with the curriculum Going to school was a matter of routine

that provided an opportunity for them to spend time with other

children In many different ways though and as we shall

elaborate upon further the childhood of the children who

comprised the universe of our study was different from our

understanding of the concept and therefore forced us to look

more closely and critically at the notions of childhood that were

prevalent and predominant at the time we were carrying out the

study

Quality of Education and Normative Notions of Childhood

I do the dishes wash clothes water plants sweep the yard get

the children ready for school I put their shoes on put on the

tie and uniforms and send them to school After that I wash the

bathrooms sweep the hall mop it fold the bed sheets and

change them once a week I get the wheat ground in a nearby

flourndashmill All this work is done between 7am and 12 noon

They give me tiffin and tea at 12 noon I come home change

into my school dress and go to school I return from school

around 5 pm Between 530 and 7 pm I go for tuition Tuition

teacher is a friend of my sister She doesnt charge anything

Sometimes I stay back after the tuition and do my homework

before coming home Sometimes my mother asks me to run

errands My sister works in the Electricity department Her

husband died so she got this job In 1993 my father died My

brother is married and is working My mother also goes for



work stone cutting I earn Rs200- per month I have a sister

who is in III class She also goes to tuition My sisterndashinndashlaw is a

nice person I wish I could become a doctor but I doubt if they

will let me complete 10th class

This is the response we received from a girl student (who is

also a domestic worker) studying in VII standard in one of the

government schools in Hyderabad when we asked her to

describe her daily routine Such responses never enter or

inform educational discourse except perhaps in categorising

them as an aberration from predominant conceptions of what

ideal childhood involves The marginality of this figure in the

theorisation of education can thus be explained in terms of the

fact that the life of this child doesnt fit normative notions of

childhood and therefore often fails to get addressed by most

education researchers textbook writers or policy makers

Whether explicitly acknowledged or not approaches to

schooling and education draw upon as well as feed into the

conceptions of childhood that one subscribes to Woodhead

(2006) points out that different paradigms constitute the norm

of childhood in different ways10 He points out however that the

developmental approach has become the ubiquitous

perspective that underpins most educational policies the world

over A major goal of this approach which draws on the

theoretical works of Piaget Kohlberg and Erikson among

others is to identify universal features of growth and change

through detailed accounts of stages of physical mental social

and moral development in children

The developmental norm in relation to childhood in the

contemporary society is that children should be in school and

not at work additionally that they should be joyful carefree and

sheltered from the sordid facts of adult life Other features that

are regarded as being characteristic of childhood include

ldquovulnerability dependency need for protection lack of

responsibility ignorance inability to produce or provide and

only capable of consuming (Holland 1986 p 46) The fact that

this notion has widespread acceptance irrespective of evidence

to the contrary is what makes it the normative definition of

childhood Even as diverse approaches to childhood are being

proposed the hegemonic proposition of an ideal childhood has

remained Balagopalan (2002) Bissel (2003) Sarangapani



(2003) and Vasanta (2004) provide an elaboration and critical

engagement with these points

Drawing on the conception of ideal or normative childhoods

can have different effects one of which is that textbook authors

typically construct an image of childhood as a period of life

spent almost entirely in the contexts of family and school

where the emphasis is on care play learning and teaching

These assumptions in turn serve to produce a standard for

learning and bases for discussion of educational quality As an

illustrative exercise we would like to foreground the influence

that a normative notion of childhood has in propositions about

educational quality through the example provided in Figure 1

which is a preface that appears in the English language

textbook issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for use

in Class VII

The stated objective of the lesson is contained in the line

that the ldquostories are for developing the ability to listen to and

understand spoken Englishrdquo Since lsquoEnglish is popularly

instated as the marker of quality education developing

familiarity with English would imply in this instance that the

textbook seeks to meet the quality objective However the

promise of quality held out in this case is premised on certain

critical aspects which simultaneously draw upon as well as

buttress the normative notions of childhood First implicit in

the whole set of instructions is the assumption that the child is

in a state of dependency and needs to be guided by adults

Building upon the first the second assumption is that every

child will necessarily have the support of a parent or a guardian

who will be able to actively or passively guide her him through

the school system The third assumption is that the parent or

the guardian of the child will be in full agreement with the

pedagogic mode suggested by the text Finally that the material

requirements of the child will be taken care of by the guardian

and that the child will unproblematically be provided with all

the requisite textbooks Not surprisingly our study provided

evidence to falsify each of these assumptions

In contrast to what obtains in the framework of the

normative notion of childhood our study clearly revealed that

far from being in a state of dependency many children are



Figure 1 Preface

A NOTE TO THE PARENT

1 Your child is in the third year of learning English In the class the teacher will help your child do the following

(1) Listen to a few simple stories read out in class

(2) Talk about things of interest with the teacher and the classmates

(3) Read a number of stories in English

(4) Write a few simple sentences and paragraphs

(5) Read and enjoy a few simple poems

2 It is important for you to remember a few things

(1) There is a section labeled lsquoFor the use of the teacher at the beginning of each Unit Do not make your child read memorise or recite any part of it

(2) In class your child will listen to the stories when the teacher reads them out Do not make him her read the story Do not expect him her to fully understand the story or know the meanings of all the words The stories are for developing the ability to listen to and understand spoken English

(3) Your child will be doing some writing at home using the Reader and the Workbook Do not offer to help when your child does his her homework The teacher would have made enough preparation in class for the task Let your child make the effort at doing the homework by himself herself Help him her only when it is absolutely necessary

(4) Your child will need three prescribed books for learning English in this class mdash the Reader the Workbook and the Supplementary Reader It is important that your child possesses his her own copy of all of them

WISH YOU AND YOUR CHILD ALL THE BEST

xiii

Source New English Reader 3 Class VII Government of Andhra Pradesh (2000)

exposed to adult responsibilities at different points in their

lives We noted that a vast majority of the government school

children we studied participate in the adult world of work

Specifically we noted that 87 of the children work outside

school hours The school system assumes the norm of

childndashdependency irrespective of the fact that a fairly large

number of children are autonomous outside the domain of the



classrooms In the particular case of having to learn English

the students might be dependent on the teachers adults but

the approach of the preface we have cited above draws on an

educational discourse that underscores generalised

dependency in all aspects of life Such an approach for instance

is clearly evident in the National Curriculum Framework of

2000 where such a core assumption is foregrounded in the

statement that ldquofrom a state of dependency and helplessness

the children gradually attain independence and become

curious learnershelliprdquo (NCERT 2000 p 41)

In relation to the second assumption about having able

adults to guide them our study revealed that the children find it

very difficult to receive help in order to navigate through the

curriculum either at school or at home 37 of the children in

our study reported that they receive no help with their study

while the rest manage with meager inputs from their friends

family neighbours employers etc With regard to the

assumption that there is a tacit agreement about the pedagogic

mode suggested by the preface many parents in our study

believed that since they were not capable of helping the children

with their study the responsibility of educating the children lay

entirely with the school While many teachers blamed the

uneducated parents for the childrens poor learning the

parents themselves did not feel implicated in the process The

response from one of the parents we interviewed was typical in

this respect ldquoShe returns from school washes dishes and does

her homework We dont ask her about school and she doesnt

tell us anything For some days she went to tuition Since we are

not educated we dont know what to do with the textbooksrdquo

The preface cited above emphasizes the importance of

owning textbooks However not a single child in our study

owned a complete set of the prescribed textbooks In fact the

only textbook that a VII class girl we interviewed possessed was

from her previous class (She spoke animatedly and

unselfconsciously about the lesson on Madame Curie from that

VI class textbook) Far from being the prerequisite which

guarantees quality education and which is a given within the

frame of the normative childhood the matter of textbooks is

often and in various ways a traumatic one for most children in

government schools11 Unfortunately the arrangement made by



the government to provide free textbooks for the children does

not seem to have mitigated the problem as one of our classroom

observation sessions demonstrated

The teacher who teaches social studies came into class VI and

said ldquohavent I completed 9th lessonrdquo All the children

answered in unison ldquoyes sir you didrdquo Some of the children

began opening their textbooks One student said that he lost

his textbook The teacher responded ldquoIf you had purchased the

book out of your money you would not have lost it Because it is

a free book supplied by the government you have lost it I

believe in the next Janmabhumi programme the CM is going to

sanction clothes Go and lose those clothes also

Repeatedly therefore the children seemed to demonstrate

their distance from what the norm of childhood holds

frustrating the efforts of the teachers in the process

Furthermore since the teachers too conform to the unstated

but all pervasive equation made between the normative notions

of childhood on the one hand and quality in education on the

other our classroom observations revealed that they often treat

the students as lsquounteachables Some of them told the students

directly so in the classes while others implied as much in their

conversations with the researchers through their comments on

illiterate parents clothes the children wore their caste etc We

were particularly struck by the fact that some of the students

too had internalised some parts of these assessments One of

the girls in Class VII told us ldquoMy school is good my teachers are

also very good they teach very well The problem is with me I

just cant learn anything I cant understand the lessons and I

cant remember them even though my teachers explain the

meanings so many timesrdquo12

The irony of the situation is fairly obvious A tacit agreement

exists within the educational system about quality and about

the learning goals that have to be achieved These goals within

the specific location of the school are determined by the

powerful position occupied by the teacher and in situations

such as that described above it is the authority of the teacher

that results in the student being blamed (and internalising the

blame) for failure However if we were to move beyond holding

individuals (teachers or students) responsible for the failures

other related questions gain urgency is there a problem with



the learning objectives as they are presently defined in other

words is our present conception of quality problematic Or does

the problem lie with the manner in which quality and the

objectives are sought Or is there a need to revise our

understanding of both quality as well as the processes adopted

to achieve these quality objectives Considerations of these

issues related to quality of education are critical and are

precipitated moreover by the fact of growing inequality among

the groups of students that seek school education

Inequality and the Discourse of Rights

There is a great deal of debate about the rights discourse about

its effectiveness as also about its limitations13 Those who use

the language of rights regard it as effective precisely because it

appeals to a universal norm Some misgivings notwithstanding

the proponents of this approach find it useful to lobby with the

state because it allows them to emphasize entitlements while

protesting against discriminations In the name of rights a

series of demands are also often named and defined While the

importance of the strategic use of the rights discourse cannot be

denied it is necessary to also recognize that this same

discourse could short circuit different possibilities that may be

even more enabling in the long term for those same

constituencies

The conception of a normative childhood enables among

other things a discourse of child rights As emphasized in the

previous section the concept of ideal childhood is one in which

the child is assumed to be secure and free from cares of all kinds

while she he is being prepared for a later stage of adulthood In

the face of overwhelming evidence which demonstrates that the

lives of a majority of the children are nowhere close to such a

normative conception the discourse of child rights seeks to

create conditions that will bridge the gap between the actual

situation of the child and the normative one The attempt at

ensuring child rights thus implies efforts towards making every

childs childhood experience a joyful playful and safe one in

which they are also preparing to be adults who can fully

participate in their society

One of the most emphatic articulate and influential



position linking child rights with school education is provided by

the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation more popularly

known by its acronym MVF Though MVF began its work in

Andhra Pradesh its influence on the issue of child rights has

extended beyond regional boundaries and has shaped thinking

on the subject at the national as well as international levels The

extent to which MVF draws on the conception of normative

childhood is evident in its definition of a set of five non-

negotiables that have to be adhered to by the organisation as

well as the movement for child rights that it has energised The

MVF affirms the following non-negotiables (or the Charter of

Basic Principles for Emancipation of Child Labour)

1 All children must attend fullndashtime formal day schools 2 Any child out of school is a child labourer 3 All work labour is hazardous and harms the overall

growth and development of the child 4 There must be total abolition of child labour 5 Any justification for the perpetuation of child labour

must be condemned

MVFs emphasis on the right to education derives from its

commitment to abolish child labour14 As such right to

education within this framework is often understood as the

childs right to access schools through admission into them and

continuing there In this approach education is understood as

primarily sequential with the first step of entering into the

school being regarded as the most important one While there is

definitely cause to prioritise in this manner especially given

that stepping into school premises is unusual for a number of

communities the issue of educational quality gets relegated to

a secondary position

Since a critical objective of MVF is to make government

schooling available for all children it has consistently sought to

modify or bring in policies that help such a process In fact the

policy changes that have come about as a result of MVFs

interventions have far reaching implications They are clearly

weighted in favour of the child from socio-economically

marginalised groups Significant among the policy changes

introduced as a result of MVFs intervention are three

government orders 1) government schools have to admit

children at any time during the academic year 2) children



cannot be detained at any level of schooling where evaluation is

done internally and 3) the responsibility of collecting transfer

certificates of children when they move from one school to

another rests with the school administration and not the

student in other words no student can be denied admission for

not having transfer certificates These policy changes shift the

onus of the childs education from the parents to the schooling

system the state Significantly all these three aspects are

included in the Right to Education Act of 2009

When thinking through the question of inequality and

quality together we realize that the interventions of MVF in the

first and second instance ie admitting children any time of the

academic year and the introduction of non-detention policy

definitely help the children access schools However the

question of quality is one that is not directly addressed in this

move Such an omission is not that of MVFs alone but is an

implicit aspect of the functioning of most groups that focus on

child rights In fact MVF is to an extent an exception to the

trend in that it has to the extent successfully organised bridge

courses that have enabled children to acquaint themselves with

the process of schooling and learning such that they are able to

then pass out of schools However issues related to the quality

question such as the framing of alternative methods and

methodologies that would help evaluate or map learning

processes within the government schools have not been a

priority issue for the organisation It would seem that even the

best case in relation to the articulation of the rights discourse is

limited by its focus on the issue of inequality and access it has

not made a sustained bid to reconceptualise mainstream

notions of quality

The overwhelming focus on the issue of access is evident

even in the Right to Education Act 2009 and this focus in fact

makes the omission of discussion of quality issues even more

glaring Interestingly in his discussion of the Right to

Education Bill Vinod Raina (2009) who was a member of the

Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) Committee points

to a view that he did not support but which was held by the Law

Minister and some other members that ldquothe bill should confine

itself to infrastructural and management aspects and steer

clear of transactional concernsrdquo (p 83)



In the debate preceding and following the notification of the

RTE Act the emphasis on issues of inclusiveness are clear

There is an effort through these debates to redress the fact of

widespread social inequality which translates into educational

inequality The repeated concern in relation both to the Bill and

the Act relates to the fact that it grants the fundamental right to

education to children in the age group of sixndash14 years leaving

out a large number of children in the age group of zero to five

years outside its ambit Criticism is also directed at the fact that

the private schools are exempted from adhering to some of the

main requirements of the Bill Act thereby promoting the

existing inequality in the educational system It is interesting

that the emphases on inequality in these discussions hint at

quality issues but refrain from elaborating on them For

instance even the most trenchant among the critics of the Bill

Anil Sadgopal (2008) implicitly concedes that while the quality

question is an extremely important one other issues are even

more pressing ldquoWhy has the Bill not thought of changing the

elitist character of these schools that violate the educational

principles enunciated by Phule Tagore and Gandhi Clearly

the Bill lacks the vision of what constitutes quality in relation to

Indias needs That however is another debaterdquo (emphasis

ours)

Ironically enough even the embedded suggestion linking

inequality with quality in the comment cited above can get

totally diluted when certain approaches initiated by the state

choose to focus on the issue of inequality In such approaches

the interlinkage between different rights is erased through a

move that compartmentalises them Right to education for

instance is elaborated independently of the right to food

shelter work or dignity A narrow conception of the rights

discourse thus makes it possible for a government body to issue

remarks such as the following The guideline for curriculum and

syllabus revision prepared by Andhra Pradeshs State Council

for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) following the

National Curriculum Framework (2000) refers to the Strategy

Paper on Education prepared by the Department of School

Education which maintains ldquoThe basic premise of the State

Policy on Education needs special mention mdash parents are

willing to send their children to school which implies that we



need not wait for the elimination of poverty economic support to parents are of secondary importance as compared to motivation

and provision of adequate infrastructurerdquo (emphasis added)

This statement moreover is signaled as being the basic premise

of Andhra Pradeshs policy in relation to schooling Poverty and

education are thus not only extracted from their context but are

held up as separate problems for the state to deal with

Interestingly this statement issued by the SCERT seems to

coincide with Ambedkars emphasis on education and the

manner in which he prioritised education over poverty

Obviously though there are important differences between the

two statements Emphasising the need for education

Ambedkar states

Coming as I do from the lowest order of the Hindu society I

know what is the value of education The problem of raising the

lower order is deemed to be economic This is a great mistakehellip

The problem of the lower order in India is to remove from them

that inferiority complex which has stunted their growth and

made them slaves to others to create in them the

consciousness of the significance of their lives for themselves

and for the country of which they have been cruelly robbed by

the existing social order Nothing can achieve this except the

spread of higher education This in my opinion is the panacea of

our social troubles (cited in Velaskar 1998)

In contrast with SCERT which foregrounds education in

terms of lsquoadequate infrastructure Ambedkar seems to

emphasize that the content and quality of education would in

fact aid in addressing issues of inequality The discourse on

right to education as it has thus far developed though has not

yet adequately engaged with these critical issues relating to

content pedagogy and quality

Conclusion

The major thrust of our paper was to point to the fact that the

quality and inequality discourses function at different levels

and do not necessarily address concerns raised by one another

There is however an occasional convergence of the concerns of

quality and inequality We mentioned the recent exercise in

relation to developing NCF 2005 We need to build further on

these insights especially in a context where inequality is



growing and the pressure to articulate the parameters of quality

are increasing

While guidelines for quality as far as infrastructure is

concerned can be easily stipulated quality dimension for the

many other aspects of education especially curriculum

teacher training and pedagogy will have to be differently

reviewed within a framework that considers the present

standing of the community to which the child belongs the

predominant epistemology of that community the aims of

modern education the type of school and the evaluation

methods used (see Dhankar 2003 Talib 2003 Kumar and

Sarangapani 2004 Kumar 2007 for a consideration of some of

these aspects) Towards this end we also need to be attentive to

a range of questions such as How is the childs self addressed in

the context of schooling and education Does education help

children build and consolidate upon the many epistemologies

they are exposed to or are they being trivialised in the process of

reaching out for a standardised notion of quality

In our discussion of quality and inequality another issue

too needs to be taken into consideration which is that both

these notions are presently and predominantly understood in

economic terms Quality education is today largely understood

as that which will provide effective participation in the market

The deeper conceptual factors influencing quality of education

such as the nature of school knowledge and its relationship to

the learner are completely sidestepped (see Kumar 2004 for an

elaboration of this point) On the other hand inequality is

thought to be a function solely of economic deprivation Our

study however revealed that there are dimensions of inequality

other than economic ones While economic inequality does exist

among the different constituencies of the school going

population educational inequality does not directly follow from

the fact of economic inequality As the findings from our study

demonstrate it is the lack of cultural capital and supportive

mediating facilities that are among the major causes for the

children remaining educationally backward Efforts to provide

quality education therefore need to take these factors on board

The fact of existing inequality in our society necessitates

sharpening our understanding of the educational needs of

children from marginalised groups and of addressing upfront



the many dimensions of the quality issue so that effective

pedagogic as well as administrative models for schooling are

shaped by recognizing the link between conceptions of quality

and inequality

Notes

1An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Seminar on

ldquoEducation and Inequality in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengalrdquo

held at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS)

Hyderabad during September 21ndash22 2006 Discussions at the

conference as well as Jos Mooijs extensive feedback on the paper

helped us develop our arguments further We are grateful to Padma

Sarangapani for her comments on an earlier draft which helped us

clarify several aspects of our thinking We also thank the two

anonymous reviewers of this paper whose response was useful in

further refining our formulations

2For a very useful history of the notion of quality within education see

Kumar and Sarangapani (2004) The points made about quality in

this paper draw upon the history outlined by them and seeks to

build on it in order emphasize the present moment in India

3In the pre-Independence period the emphasis on relevance was

especially sharp in relation to the education of girls

GMChiplunkars work Scientific Basis of Womens Education

(1930) is a classic example that engages with the different levels of

concerns animating discussions in relation to what was relevant

for womens education during this period The debates about

indigenous education versus western education in this phase also

revolved around the question of relevance The conference held at

Wardha in 1937 is a landmark event in terms of focusing

discussions on the approaches to education that were most

relevant for India

4As a consequence of the overdetermining influence of this recent

context in which the term has become widespread several critical

reflections and studies on the question of quality have engaged

with the frameworks established by DPEP either to problematise it

or to develop parameters that are different from it For instance

Dhankar (2003) provides a detailed discussion and critique of

quality as understood within the DPEP discourse even as he

proposes an alternative frame within which quality could be

conceptualised Anitha (2005) suggests parameters through which

quality issues could be evaluated in the context of rural schools

The report by Save the Children (2007) specifically assesses



schools in Andhra Pradesh in order to demand minimum

standards of education

5The study by the PROBE team (1999) in fact managed to bridge

different levels of discussion impacting not just academic interest

in matters of schooling but policy level and popular-public

discussions as well

6In fact several debates in relation to the NCF 2005 document draw on

some of these experiments to validate their point See for instance

the articles by Paliwal and Subramaniam (2006) Saxena (2006)

and Batra (2006)

7The design of the BEd courses for instance testifies to the

standardisation of a certain conception of quality which derives

from the worldview of the middle class

8Given the common ground from which both discourses emerge the

disjuncture between them is striking While this aspect needs to be

examined and explained in some detail it is outside the scope of

this paper which only seeks to draw attention to the gap between

the two discourses

9Much of this information recorded in Telugu by the research

assistants was translated into English and a computerised data-

base was developed using specially designed software This

datandashbase is available at Anveshi for further research

10In a position paper on changing perspectives on early childhood and

their implications to research and policy Woodhead (2006) has

identified four different perspectives or paradigms about childhood

and acknowledged possible interactions and interdependencies

among them The four perspectives are (1) developmental (2)

economic political (3) social cultural and (4) human rights

Woodhead suggests that the relationship between theory and

research on the one hand and policy and practice on the other

differs depending on which one of these perspectives guides the

research

11One part of this potentially harrowing experience is brilliantly

captured in Kadeer Babus story ldquoThree Fourth Half Price Bajji

Bajjirdquo which is a part of the Different Tales series of childrens

storybooks that Anveshi brought out in 2009 The story which is

remarkable for masking the latent poignancy of the situation with

a witty rendering of it begins with the announcement of the

availability of textbooks for sale followed by the narrators

declaration ldquoI say the issue of textbooks does not concern us

because the mother and father who gave me birth hardly ever

bothered to buy me a new set of textbooks either in the Sixth or in



the Seventh Class I always had to make do with secondhand

textbooks Even now since there was no guarantee that they would

buy a new set of textbooks I thought mdash why dont I look out for

someone who has books that will be of use to merdquo

12Mohammad Talib (2003) too draws attention to a similar situation he

encountered in his study of children of construction workers in a

school in Delhi ldquoDuring the course of a casual conversation with a

workers child named Lalu I sought to motivate him to acquire

school education at least up to Class VIII mdash the minimum

qualification for certain statendashsponsored programmes The child a

student of Class V responded by pronouncing that he was

deficient in the proper aptitude (ruchi) necessary for acquiring

education of any kind On further probing as to who confirmed the

lack of the requisite aptitude for education in him the child politely

replied ldquoMy teachers have always told me sordquo He further clarified

ldquoThey told me that my head does not contain brain but bhoosa

(chaff) They said so because I did not understand the lessons in

the class Convinced of his lack of aptitude Lalu dropped out of

Class Vrdquo (p 200)

13Kabeer et al (2003) provides a timely and useful collection of articles

that engage with the subject of child rights in general and the right

to education in particular from different standpoints See also

Butler Laclau and Zizek (2000) for a nuanced consideration of the

pros and cons of the rights discourse

14Obviously then with reference to the example of the girl cited in the

previous section unlike mainstream educational theorists MVF

would definitely engage with her educational experience but

importantly it would be preceded by an effort to first change her

situation such that the work part of her life experience is

eliminated leaving only the part in which she attends school

References

Anitha B K (2005) Quality and the social context of rural schools

Contemporary Education Dialogue 3(1) 28ndash60

Anveshi (2003) Curricular transaction in selected government schools

in Andhra Pradesh Final report submitted to Sir Ratan Tata Trust

Mumbai Report available on wwwanveshiorg

Babu M K (2009) Three fourth half price bajji bajji In Untold school

stories Kottayam DC Books

Balagopalan S (2002) Constructing indigenous childhoods

Colonialism vocational education and the working child

Childhood 9(1) 19ndash34



Batra P (2006) Building on the National Curriculum Framework to

enable the agency of teachers Contemporary Education Dialogue 4

(1) 88ndash118

Bissel S (2003) The social construction of childhood A perspective

from Bangaladesh In N Kabeer G B Nambissan and R

Subrahmanian (Eds) Child labour and the right to education in

South Asia Needs versus rights New Delhi Sage Publications

Butler J Laclau E and Zizek S (2000) Contingency hegemony

universality Contemporary dialogues on the left London Verso

Chiplunkar G M (1930) Scientific basis of womens education Poona

SBHudilkar

Dhankar R (2003) The notion of quality in DPEP pedagogical

interventions Education Dialogue 1(1) 5ndash34

Government of India (1993) Learning without burden Report of the

National Advisory Committee (Yashpal Committee Report) New

Delhi Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)

Government of Andhra Pradesh (2000) New English Reader 3 (Class

VII) Hydrabad Government of Andhra Pradesh

Holland P (1986) What is a child In P Holland J Spence amp SWatney

(Eds) Photography and politics (Vol II) London Comedia

Publishing Group

Kabeer N Nambissan G B amp Subrahmanian R (Eds) (2003) Child

labour and the right to education in South Asia Needs versus rights

New Delhi Sage Publications

Kumar K (2004) Educational quality and the new economic regime In

A Vaugier-Chatterjee (Ed) Education and democracy in India

New Delhi Manohar publishers and distributors

Kumar K amp Sarangapani P (2004) History of the quality debate


Kumar M amp Sarangapani P (2005) Improving government schools

What has been tried and what works Bangalore Books for

Change

Kumar N (2007) The politics of gender community and modernity

Essays on education in India New Delhi Oxford University Press

National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

(2005) National Curriculum Framework 2005 New Delhi National

Council for Education Research and Training

_________ (2000) National Curriculum Framework for School Education

2000 New Delhi National Council for Education Research and

Training



Paliwal R amp Subramaniam C N (2006) Contextualising the

curriculum Contemporary Education Dialogue 4(1) 25ndash 51

Pappu R (Ed) (2005) Rethinking priorities Making policies as if

people matter Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh Social Watch

PROBE (1999) Public report on basic education New Delhi Oxford

University Press

Raina V (2009) Right to Education Seminar 593 87ndash 91

Sadgopal A (2008) Education bill Dismantling Rights Financial

Express Posted 2008ndash11ndash09 httpwwwfinancialexpresscom

newseducation-bill-dismantling-rights3831770

Sarangapani P (2003) Childhood and schooling in an Indian village


Save the Children (2007) Where are schools going Setting minimum

standards for quality education in schools of Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad Save the Children

Saxena S (2006) Questions of epistemology Re-evaluating

constructivism and the NCF 2005 Contemporary Education

Dialogue 4(1) 52ndash71

Talib M (2003) Modes of learning mdash labour Relation Educational

strategies and child labour In N Kabeer G BNambissan amp R



Vasanta D (2004) Childhood work and schooling Some reflections


Velaskar P (1998) Ideology education and the political struggle for

liberation Change and challenge among the dalits of Maharasthra

In S Shukla amp R Kaul (Eds) Education development and

underdevelopment (pp 210ndash240) New Delhi Sage

_______ (2006) Changing perspectives on early childhood theory

research and policy Background paper for the Education For All

Global Monitoring Report 2007 (available on httpunescodoc

unescoorgimages0014001474147499epdf)

Woodhead M (2006) Changing perspectives on early childhood

Theory research and policy Paper commissioned for the EFA

Global monitoring report 2007 titled Strong foundations early

childhood care and education


Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12


involved an examination of the lives and experiences of 300

students of classes VI VII and VIII from 10 different

Government schools in and around Hyderabad in Andhra

Pradesh Our study was not directly aimed at investigating the

quality of education that the children received Instead our

awareness of their marginalised status within the society as

well as the educational system led us to explore how they

transacted the school curriculum We draw on some of the

insights gained from that study to comment on the present

discussions on school education in India discussions that are

increasingly being influenced by simultaneous concerns about

educational quality and social inequality

As terms that form a part of the discourse on education lsquolsquoquality and lsquoinequality have a longstanding history and have

been of central interest to educational theorists and 2philosophers in particular In our paper we draw upon such

self reflexive and sustained engagement with the subject but

also refer to the use of the terms in public discussions indexed

for instance by debates in newspapers It is worth noting that

the inclusion of a conception of quality in relation to issues of

school education in popular discussions is more recent when

compared to the emphasis on educational inequality

For a considerable period of time before and after

Independence debates on school education in India were

animated by concerns about the relevance of education to the 3lives of the students and the society of which they were a part

Gradually however the notion of quality has replaced the notion

of relevance The introduction and consistent use of the term

lsquoquality in the documents produced by the World Bank aided

District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in particular

ensured that where the term had thus far largely been used to

gauge the standard of consumption goods it now entered the

popular lexicon when discussing matters of school education 4as well

As regards the issue of inequality vis-a-vis school

education prior to the 1990s (marked in particular by the

introduction of liberalisation in the country) it was flagged

mainly through figures which revealed that large numbers of

children were never enrolled or had dropped out of the











































































others concerns


























































































































































study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12










































































others concerns


























































































































































study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12


































others concerns


























































































































































study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12



















































































































































study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12












































































































study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12


































































study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

























study











































































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12


























































in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12
















in Class VII



























Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 11

Page 12


Figure 1 Preface














xiii





















































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 12












































































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11


































































constituencies
































must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12
















must be condemned





















































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12































notions of quality



































ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12
























ours)































Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12













Ambedkar states



















Conclusion











are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

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are increasing












































and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































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and inequality

Notes

























relevant for India



















discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

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discussions as well




and Batra (2006)








the two discourses














research











































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12
































References















(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































Page 1

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Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

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(1) 88ndash118








SBHudilkar










Publishing Group











Change








Training








University Press
































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University Press
































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educational quality and social inequality: reflecting on

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