Prakash, Nirupama. (2007). PARTICIPATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF EDUCATION OF SCHEDULED CASTE CHILDREN IN RAJASTHAN: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY. Unpublished. ERIC, Education
Objectives of the study:
To examine the current status of education of Scheduled Caste children through the primary data and to assess the facilities available at school in which they are studying.
To know the experiences 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 extent of utilization of facilities at various levels by SC students and to find out the reasons for non-utilization of such facilities.
To find out the association between educational and cultural resources available and their utilization.
Samples:
From the state of Rajastan, three districts having large, moderate, and low SC population were selected. The districts are Bikaner, Jhunjhunu, and Sikar having large, moderate and low SC population respectively. In the second stage, from each districts three villages having high, moderate and low SC population are selected. If the households of the village comprise 100 houses of SC population then the whole bunch of houses in the village are taken and if the number of houses is more than 100 in the village then nth selection technique was used. Besides, one urban center from each district was selected.
Tools Used:
SC household schedule: this schedule consists of the following sections:
Section A: Perception of school going children
Section B: Schedule for identifying the perception and inspiration of parents
Section C: Perception of Dropouts
Section D: Schedule for village education committee (VEC) member
Section E: School Schedule
Section F: Village Schedule
Section G: Perception of School Administration (Headmaster/Principal)
Section H: Household Schedule
Schedule for the Details of the school aged children
Method of the study:
Analytical study.
Statistical Techniques:
Frequency Count, Percentage Analysis, Chi-square test.
Findings:
The enrollment of children of children of SC community is proportionately high in primary section but it loses its stream in middle and high section successively.
The standard of living of SC communities was not good even though the well-off families of SC communities gain success and hold reasonably good positions in the society.
The main reasons for the backwardness of these communities were poverty, large size of families, lack of educational environment at home, ignorance of illiterate parents, problem of excess liquor consumption and early marriage.
The study has shown that very few respondents in all villages and urban centers were working in government jobs.
In the entire three districts, one thing that was common was that all the villages had government schools within the periphery of village itself, but none of the villages had provision for higher education after 12th class.
None of the govt schools had proper facilities for the children like electricity in the school, furniture in the classrooms, or condition of toilets. Most of the times children were roaming around outside the schools. It was reported that in almost all the districts there were shortages of teaching staff and office staff.
The study revealed that children wanted to continue their studies but due to one or the other financial constraint they had to drop in between. It also shows that there were 448 school going children from three villages and urban center of district Jhunjunu and 707 school going children from Shikar district and 1062 school going children from Bikanar district. Also, the study reflected that almost 78% of children in Jhunjhunu and Sikar district and 57% in Bikaner district were regular to the schools and the others were irregular. Almost all the parents except from Napasar village doesn't wants to educate their daughters.
Keyword(s): Scheduled caste children