Murthy, A Somashekara. (2014). FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PARTICIPATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF EDUCATION OF SCHEDULED CASTE CHILDREN IN KARNATAKA- AN ANALYTICAL STUDY. Unpublished. ERIC, Education
Objectives of the study:
To examine the current status of education of Scheduled Caste children through secondary data and to assess the faculties available at school in which they are studying.
To know the experience and perceptions of students, community and those who have discontinued their studies in relation to their socio- economic background and compare this with the experiences of others across socio-economic category.
To examine the awareness and the extend of utilization of facilities at various levels by SC students and to find out the reasons for non- utilization of facilities at various levels by SC students and to find out the reasons for non- utilization of such facilities.
Research questions:
what are the educational facilities available in Karnataka, Govt. of India as well as State Govt.?
Whether basic facilities available in schools?
What were the schooling experiences/ perceptions of students and those who discontinued?
What are the perceptions of the parents/guardians about the relevance of Education to the children?
Whether the parents/guardian felt school environment and infrastructural facilities are conductive for education of their children?
Sample:
For the purpose of present study the data will be drawn from Primary or Secondary source. For collection of Primary data the house-hold will be primary unit of the sample unit.
From each state of Karnataka, 4 Districts having large, moderate and Low SC population districts, will be selected. In the second stage from each district 4 Blocks having high, Moderate and low SC population will be selected. In each stage from each Block 10 villages by following above criteria will be selected. From each village 14 houses holds will be selected purposively keeping in view of Socio- economic status. In order project the success story one person from each block will also be selected.
Tools used:
SC house hold schedule
Methodology:
An analytical study
Statistical Techniques:
Frequency count and percentage analysis
Findings of the study:
Data was collected from 89.3% Male and 11% Female members of the family from all the districts of Karnataka.
14% of the people were in various Government services, 80.8% were other private jobs like agricultural labor, artisan, business etc and only 8% were doing some other jobs.
63.6% of the people were illiterates, 18.4% of the people were primary school educated 4.4% were high school 1.2% were college educated and professionals.
20.2% of the sample was staying in Joint families and 68.8% lived in Nuclear Families
27.9% ofthe people lived in Huts and 59.8% lived in tiled houses.
84.0% owned their own house and 1.8% lived in rented and leased house.
91.8% of the houses had electricity facility and 4.9% had no electricity facility in their houses.
54.4% had drinking water facility and 42.8% had no drinking water facility in their home.
13.5% had separate room for their children to study, 82.2% had no separate room for their children to study.
55% people had television accessibility in their home and 41.7 people did not have TV facilities in their house.
32.9% had a radio in their house, and 63% had no radio facilities in their house.
12.6% people read news papers, and 82.6% did not buy or read news papers in their house.
52% of the families had toilet facilities and 43.2% of the families had no toilet facilities.
21.6% of the people had wet land and used for agricultural purpose, 25.9% had dry land and used it for various purposes. 7.6% did not have any land at all.
17.2% of the people had poultry farm in their house, 6.5% had sheep, 7.8% had other animals like cow, and goat etc. 5.8% had other live stock.
This house hold schedule gives an overall image of the SC families in Karnataka and the life they are leading. The above analysis reveals that the status of SC's has considerably improved compared to the olden days, but in the level of education most of the adults are illiterates and the children are the first generation learners in the family. The families have most basic facilities required to live.
7.0% parents happy with the infrastructure of the school. Because, infrastructure is good at school. Class room furniture, drinking water, lighting. toilets, windows, playground, School building. any other fan, play materials, computers, library, teaching aids everything is there in school and these are all good quality materials. So, the parents are happy with the infrastructure of the school, 23%of the parents are not happy with the infrastructure of the school.
93% of parents feel education will help their children in future and 1.5% feels that education will not help.
88.6% of parents give priority to education for their children 2.7% parents do not give priority to education because they think that they can't get job because of education.
1.4% of the children are school dropout because of their poverty and afraid of formal education. 22.1% of the students are regular in the class because of the motivation of government facilities.
11.9% of the students got enrollment to school. 4.7% of the students didn't get enrollment to school.
2.3% of the students are dropouts, in the school. Because lot of fear about formal education. 4.7%% of the students not dropouts because they like formal education.
14.6% children will go regularly to the school get moral values in the school 3.3% children will not go regularly because of fear in formal education.
68.5% of the parents assists their children in their studies, in doing the homework, for preparation of the tests, and inquiry with the teachers about the progress of the children. 17.2% of the parents do not assist their children in their studies because lack of awareness in the field of education among parents.
66.7% of children assist their parents in their work at home. All most all girls do so much house hold work like washing vessels, washing clothes, and cooking. Some boys assist parents in their work at home. 17.4% of the children not assist parents in their work at home.
54% of children study daily at home. They study 3 to 4 hours at home. Children start to study at 6 pm to 8 pm. 27.9% of children cannot study daily at home. These children study only in the classroom.
65.5% children talk about the happenings of the school, about the teacher classes, activities and other works. Children talk more about the teacher and friends. Children express their happiness in front of mother about whatever happens at school. 13.4% of children do not express their feelings because they are not interested to express their feelings.
64% of children actively participate in teaching learning activities. 15.5% of children not actively participate in teaching-learning process.
70.5% feel co-curricular activities are essential for the development of the children. Children like physical activities and it helps in mental development. 11.9% children not interested in co-curricular activities and feel it is not essential for the development of the children.
61.8% feel extracurricular activities are also essential for the development of the children. As some children are good at extra-curricular activities. 20.2% children are not interested in extra co-curricular activities.
69.3% children participate in the co-curricular activities, like music, sports, drawing, first aid, singing, debate, essay writing competitions. 11.3% do not concentrate because they are not interest in co-curricular activity.
63.3% teachers cooperate with children in the teaching learning process and in the field activities like sports, music, debate, and other competition. Teacher helps the students in participating in the co-curricular activities. 18.6% of teachers not cooperate with the children.
66.8% of the teachers are good at teaching because children can easily understand. Children get good marks in examination and also teacher teaches about moral values to the children. These children are very active in school, 15.1% teachers are not good at teaching because of lack of communication.
68.9% parents involve in the activities of the school as they conduct many programme for parents to participate in the school. 13.1% parents do not involve in the school activities as parents are not interest in involvement of activities.
59.5 of parents attend the parents teachers meeting. In the meeting they discuss about the progress of school and the progress of their children, 21.8% parents not come to school they do not discuss about their children.
44.1% school environment conductive for the education is good. Ventilation, weather, environment of everything is good. Children health is very important to learn. So, good environment is fully necessary. 35.3% of school environment is not good. So, the student cannot learn properly with bad environment.
7.0% parents happy with the infrastructure of the school. Because, infrastructure is good at school. Class room furniture, drinking water, lighting, toilets, windows, playground, School building, any other fan, play materials, computers, library, teaching aids everything is there in school and these are all good quality materials. So, the parents are happy with the infrastructure of the school, 23%of the parents are not happy with the infrastructure of the school.
74.6% of parents are agree towards compulsory education for all the students. 7.8 % of people do are not agree
59.8% of parents are agree towards Present Education system is relevant and helpful to the child's future, 22.2 % of people do not agree.
20.9 % of parents are satisfied with location of the school, 0.2 % of Parents are not satisfied with the location of school
4.9 % of parents are satisfied with the supply of information about the pupils performance to the parents, 0.2 % of Parents are not satisfied with supply of information about the pupils performance to the parents.
36.6% of Students want to study further and 63.5%students do not want to study further.
16%of student's face discrimination from Teacher, Classmates, senior students and other community.84% students did not face discrimination from Teacher, Classmates, senior students and other community.
23.7% of children are falling to difficulties in attending the school and 393% of children do not face any difficulties in attending the school.
38.2% of students want parents to be visit the school often and there are 23.4% of students do not wants parents to be visit the school often.
46.7%) of children are actively participating in the school activities and there are 12.5% children don't actively participating in the school activities
The analysis of the research questions, reveals that there are a number of educational schemes like mid-day meal, free books, free uniform, scholarships, free hostel, fee concession, free medical check-up, residential facilities, facility of special coaching for below average students etc. But some of the government welfare programmes are not reaching the beneficiary as there is no awareness about it among the people. So, most of government welfare programmes are not utilized by the SC people.
The analysis also reveals that the SC children like going to school but do face certain difficulties in attending school, like, transport, their poverty and parent encouragement. The major problem they experience is the discrimination by the classmates because of their caste.
The analysis reveals that parents have realized the importance of education and also good education could help in better settlement in life and can lead a more respectable life. The parents are satisfied with school environment and the infrastructural facilities are conducive for education of their children
The overall analysis gives a detailed scenario of the students in Kamataka. This study would help in modification of the existing policies so as to reach the common beneficiaries.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY:
The following are the implications of this study:
The children belonging to the SC group though have much facilities provided by the government do not utilize the facilities as most of the parents are not educated and are not willing to give up their family traditions or jobs for the sake of education.
Shows the segmented division of society. The study also shows the division of the society based on caste and after so many years of independence also there is discrimination in the society based on caste.
Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation among the children. The children wish to choose their own choice of occupation than following their parent. Here education plays an important role in molding the future of these SC children.
It can be recommended that the government, the schools, the teachers and society should take up initiatives to prevent dropouts of SC children and motivate them to attend the schools by making them realize the importance of education.
In the light of the implementation of RTE all schools should provide special provisions for providing free education to these children.
The Government must take stringent action against those schools who do not implement RTE, as under this category only most of the SC children get free education.
Keyword(s): Participation and consequences of SC students, School environment, Infrastructural facilities, Locality, Parental attitude