Transcript Education, Aspiration and Inequality in Rural Chhattisgarh

EDUCATION, ASPIRATION
AND INEQUALITY IN RURAL
CHHATTISGARH
Education, Aspiration and Inequality in
Rural Chhattisgarh

Traditional
Inequalities
 Caste
and
untouchability
 Economic wealth
 Land entitlement
 Occupational
status
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New
inequalities
 Education
 Education-based
social mobility
Education, Aspiration and Inequality in
Rural Chhattisgarh
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What explains the unequal pursuit of and
engagement with education between Hindus and
Christians in rural Chhattisgarh
How has this given rise to the creation of new forms
of inequality?
Education, Aspiration and Inequality in
Rural Chhattisgarh

Dominant perspectives on ‘education’:
 Schooling
is intrinsically beneficial; an inherent ‘social
good’
 School education brings about social mobility and
provides fundamental social opportunities
 School education synonymous with modernity,
civilization, progress
 Kumar
1994; Dreze and Sen 1995; Sen 1999
Education, Aspiration and Inequality in
Rural Chhattisgarh

Alternative discourse: school education is a
‘contradictory resource’
 Confers
advantages and brings about social mobility
for some…
 …Reinforces positions of inequality for others
 Perpetuates and provides justification for social
inequalities
 Benefits not widely accessible
 Education correlated with social capital
 Levinson
and Holland 1996; Bourdieu 1974, 1977, 1990;
Jeffery, Jeffery and Jeffery 2008
Background: Mohanpur, rural
Chhattisgarh
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Predominantly adivasi village
2-5 hours from nearest town
Rice cultivators, non-timber
forest produce
Population: 900
Households: 165
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Social Group Composition: 93% adivasi
¾ Hindu (population 750); ‘sons of soil’, dominated by high caste
Ratiya Kanwars
¼ Christian (population 250); new comers, low caste Oraons)
Oraon Christian newcomers
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Immigrated to village in early1970s
As outsiders, no cultivable land (apart from
encroached forest land)
Worked as labourers in city for monetary wage
Acquired reputation for intelligence, ‘hard work’
and for earning livelihoods from ‘outside’
Presently wealthiest group in village:
 visible
wealth includes large homes, motorcycles,
televisions, mobile phones
Catholic Church and education
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Established 1970
Priests and Sisters: ‘Agents of progress’ through education, medical
care and charitable works
Boarding hostel (Class 1-8): caters mainly to Oraon Christians
Rs/1500 hostel fees
Hostel regime:
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4 hours daily tuition
Hindi-only rule
Christians typically study until at least Class 10 or 12
Significant role in importance of education amongst Oraon
Christians: education a ‘social good’
Mohanpur village primary school
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Constructed 1970s
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Caters to local Hindu population
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Primary school Class 5 education: supported and
valued by Hindus (acquisition of basic literacy skills)
Beyond Class 5, reduced support; Hindus dubious of
‘transformative potential; few Hindu children
allowed to carry on
Post-Class 5 education: advantages
and constraints (Hindu perspective)
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Household economic situation: poor households
cannot afford time and costs
Indirect costs: school uniforms and books
Need for children’s participation in household
labour
Acquisition of skills, preparation for marriage (girls
– cooking; boys – fields and agriculture)
Post-Class 5 education: advantages
and constraints (Hindu perspective)
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Post-class 5 schooling = jobs (anganwadi, police,
school teacher)
 BUT:
jobs scarce, and lack of social and economic
capital means opportunities are few
 Few success stories, many failures
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Risk of ‘de-skillment’: highly educated young people
return with no job, and no local ‘know-how’
Existence of land-related ‘fallback livelihoods’
Therefore: Class 5 education most practical; beyond
Class 5 = ‘useless’
Post-Class 5 education: advantages
and constraints (Christian perspective)
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Economic capital: cash-based wealth (no land)
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Historical patterns of mobility + greater propensity to
migrate for work
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Reputation to ‘go anywhere and do anything for money’
Propensity to seek vocational training
Aspirations directed outward
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No land = less need for children’s labour at home
No land = more cash; favourable position to invest in education
(hostel fees): minimum Class 8-10
No land security = no ‘fallback livelihoods’
Influenced by local ‘success stories’ (e.g. army, navy, driving;
nurse, teacher, seamstress)
Willingness to engage in separation from kin and community
Post-Class 5 education: advantages
and constraints (Christian perspective)
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Access to powerful form of social capital: the Church
and broader Christian community
 Superior
educational facilities (hostel, tuition, language)
 Facilitates commitment to education
 Provides support and connections in pursuit of
employment and education-related social mobility
 [exceptions
amongst Hindu community: those with
Church connections]
Advantages and Constraints: sum
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Hindu
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Little economic capital
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Christian
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Prohibitive cost of schooling
Need for children’s labour at
home
Risk of de-skillment with
extended schooling
Existence of secure ‘fallback
livelihoods’
Reluctance to migrate in
search of work
Reluctance to separate from
kin and community
Lack of social capital
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Economic capital: wage
labourers (related to lack of
land)
Historical pattern of labourrelated mobility
Willingness to separate from
kin and community
Social capital: Church
Conclusion: Visible forms of inequality
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Christians advantaged in following:
Existence of powerful form of social capital: the
Church
 Provides
superior educational facilities
 Connections with powerful outsiders
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Economic wealth and material consumption
 Education
as first ‘consumption arena’
 Existing material wealth compounded by remittances
Conclusion: Creation of educationbased inequalities
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Linguistic capital: Hindi language
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General cultural capital
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Advantages in terms of cultural and social capital; social
mobility
Confidence, conviction, determination, perseverance
All of which lead to…
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Active participation in ‘modern’, globalizing world
Conclusion: Creation of educationbased inequalities
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Education provides opportunities for some
(Christians, with superior forms of economic and
social capital) whilst disadvantaging others (Hindus),
in the process creating new forms of social
inequalities and new social cleavages
Education and Inequality: a cautionary
note
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Transformation of social inequalities into natural ones
(Bourdieu, Beteille)
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Disregards fact that the inequalities that impede
educational investment are derived from existing social and
economic differences
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Oraon Christians’ success attributed to intelligence, propensity to
work hard: ‘in the blood’
Justifies unequal investment and success in education as ‘naturally
given’
Legitimizes and condones perpetuation of social inequalities
Encourages upwardly mobile groups to invoke new
hierarchical inequalities based on ‘merit’, ‘gifts’, ‘natural
intelligence’