The reasons behind Weak Educational Attainments of SC/ST/OBC’s — Data analysis
Even after 75 years of Independence, although there is a huge increase in educational attainments of the SC/ST/OBC’s in absolute terms, but in relative comparison with General Merit, the gap still exists, and this article examines the reasons behind lower educational attainments of SC/ST/OBC’s as compared to General Merit.
Niti Aayog has done a detailed study on the same and the report of Niti Aayog is enclosed below
Most of the data points are taken from these reports and this is one of the first reports which clearly shows why SC/ST/OBC’s have different career path as compared to General Category.
Firstly, let us look at whether there is any marked difference in the streams which students are pursuing in higher studies. The key variables are non-engineering and non-medical courses. To understand this let us look at % of students within a social category who enrolled in Engineering/Medical seats
SC = 38.48%
ST = 37.06%
OBC = 35.34%
General = 45.59%
Although the gap is not much, it is noticeably clear from above analysis that in a relative term, General students prefer Engineering/Medical education more than SC/ST/OBCs
But the more important data is the access of primary education to various categories. Although the gross enrollment ratio is extremely high among all social categories, there is a huge gap in the quality of education that every social category receives.
Most of SC/ST/OBC students' study in Government Schools/Government aided schools. The number of students enrolled in top private schools is negligible.
If you see the above data, it is noticeably clear that bulk of SC/ST/OBC students go to Govt school and Govt aided school in middle school. Although there are a sizeable number going to private schools. But even among the private schools, there are considerable number of low-quality private schools which cater to the SC/ST/OBC students. The accessibility of high quality CBSE/ICSE curriculum to SC/ST students appears to be still limited compared to others.
The gap increases in the Secondary and senior secondary schools. Notice that at Senior secondary level, most of the SC/ST/OBCs depend on the Govt School and Govt aided school.
One of the main reasons for lower educational attainments is lower accessibility to CBSE/ICSE curriculum schools and too much dependence on Government schools, where the quality of education imparted is dismal. In yet another report, it was stated that only 8.26% reservation is provided to weaker section in Private schools, while RTE mandates 25% reservation.
The second main reason for this is non accessibility of English Education to these categories. Most of these government and government aided school do not provide quality English education.
The report states the following
More than 60 percent of the students of the general category had their middle school education in English whereas in the case of each of the other social groups the same was just below 50 percent. About one fourth of the students belonging to SC as well as OBC had their middle school education in Hindi. In the case of other social groups the percentage of students who had their middle school education was less than 20. A larger proportion of ST students (nearly 40 percent) had their middle level education in Regional languages. Though between the other groups there is not much differentiation, it is the general category students in whose case the proportion was the minimum.
This gap increases as we go higher and higher
In Graduation level, although most of those students who studied in English medium survive, while the rest of them keep dropping out.
One of the major reasons for lower educational attainments of SC/ST/OBC is predominant emphasis on education in Hindi and Regional Language as compared to General Category.
Government should design policies to provide more access to English Education to SC/ST/OBC students in Private Schools through RTE route or upgrade the current Government Schools to provide High quality education in English.
Let us compare the performance of students on a social category basis.
There is not much difference between the social categories in performance when it comes to Middle school education. Let us see the higher schooling now.
So as you see the trend, the relative percentage of exceptionally talented students reduces as you go up till Graduation.
One policy initiative is access to high-quality coaching and other online educational services free of cost at the level of Grade 9 to 12. Exclusive focus in these grades will enhance the competitiveness of these kids and prepare them for future exams.
The proportion of those adversely affected by economic reasons was considerably less (about 28 percent) in the case of general category students as compared to the students of other social groups (32 to 38 percent). Similarly the proportion of adversely affected by lack of facilities was considerably less (about 28 percent) in the case of OBC students as compared to the students of other social groups (34 to 38 percent). Though there is not much of differentiation between the Social groups with regard to the other reasons still the proportion of students reporting other reasons was slightly on the higher side in the case of OBC and general category as compared to other social groups.
The above data clearly shows that 70% of the coaching was not financially supported and it was a big burden on the families. Government should place suitable policies to regulate the fees of the coaching center. A central regulator like RERA for real estate to regulate the coaching fees should be brought so that coaching institutes are incentivized to take in financially weaker sections of societies as well.
Market value was the sole major consideration in the case of all social groups, 43 to 48 percent of the students in different groups being driven by the same.
About 85 percent of the SC people suffered from the lack of knowledge whereas only 42 percent of ST suffered. The other two groups recorded around about 60 percent, the general category being comparatively more affected. Career Counselling should be initiated for SC/ST/OBC students. Online portals and separate counselling programs for students should be designed to improve knowledge about various programs.
A majority of the SC ST and OBC students opined that their performances were at par with those of general category students whereas the majority of the General category students did not think so. This clearly shows the bias being built in the General Category students about the SC/ST/OBC Students. Although SC/ST/OBC students think that they are as competent as General Category students, but many General category students perceive that they are superior to SC/ST/OBC without looking at the competence of the persons. This is mainly because of the social discrimination which has existed for a long time. Government should initiate Special Marketing campaigns to show that SC/ST/OBC students are equally competent as General Category students.
About 47 percent of the students attributed the failure to insufficient knowledge of fundamentals. One fifth of the students thought it is because of SC ST students not having sufficient grasping power. A little more than one tenth thought that the SC ST students do not have sufficient retention capacity. Majority of the students of all the social groups attributed the disparity to the insufficient knowledge of fundamentals.
Building Strong Literacy, Numeracy, Science skills among SC/ST/OBCs is the need of the hour.
SCs are the maximum discriminated against from the above statistics. So many students, even after 75 years of Independence, still perceive that social background is a contributing factor for not coping up.
Though Government job was chosen as first preference by students belonging to all the social groups, the percentage of such students in general category is considerably less as compared to the percentages of students in SC, ST and OBC categories. Amongst the reserved groups OBC preferred the government jobs most and the ST the least. In the case of private jobs as well as own business higher parentage of students belonging to other categories have shown their interest as compared to their counterparts in other groups. Amongst the reserved group the ST have shown more interest and the OBC the least interest.
This shows that setting up large coaching center by government to assist SC/ST/OBCs to fulfill their aspirations of getting a government job may be one important Government policies which government should consider.
More than 50 percent of the students in each of the reserved categories preferred reservation quota whereas three fourths of the students of the general category were opposed to the reservation. Among the reserved groups it is the SC who were more in favour of reservation quota.
Some key conclusions on policy level are as follows
[1] Increasing the enrollment of SC/ST/OBC in CBSE/ICSE students in private schools will help.
[2] Primary Focus on English Education and Math Education will increase the performance. Government schools should focus on this.
[3] Setting up Government Coaching Center for preparation for Grade 9 to 12 for competitive exams may be good option to make sure that talented students perform much better and if coaching and bridge programs are initiated early, these students can become stars in their life.
[4] Coaching is a burden for many SC/ST/OBC students. The government should incentivize free coaching for those who get higher marks in scholarship tests.
[5] Career Counselling is necessary, since many SC/ST/OBC students are not aware of the career prospects. This will provide correct information to the aspiring students.
[6] Marketing campaigns for changing the perception that SC/ST/OBCs are equally competent as General Category is needed.
[7] Special Drive for backlog jobs and preparation of SC/ST/OBCs students for government jobs through dedicated coaching may really help many students to settle in these jobs.
