School Education and Welfare State

The central argument of the book is that the present education system is struggling against feudal and colonial past, based much on distinctions of natural ability as on caste, sex and class. Such a situation is bad for society and individuals. The efforts towards realizing the Constitutional commitment of “Universal Elementary Education” (UEE) for all the children must seriously address the constraints that have hitherto excluded large sections of Indian society from school education. Some of the social policies and practices are seen today systematically restricting the access of some groups to scare resources (such as education, jobs and other opportunities) and enhancing that of others. The book focused mainly on educational policies of welfare state for Dalits. Indian government has brought forth several effective policies, however literacy rate among Dalits are not increasing. Here the question is why Dalits are not receiving effective policies of government; Even if they join into schools, why the dropout rates among Dalits are high? These are serious questions raised in this book.