This document summarizes a research paper on studying the attitudes of students in higher and professional education towards reservations. It finds that: 1. Girls are generally more supportive than boys of reservations for widows and low-income groups, whereas boys are more opposed to caste-based reservations. 2. Over 95% of students feel amendments are needed to current reservation policies. 3. The research concludes that reservation policies are lowering education standards and causing frustration. Equality in education should be based on individuals' intelligence and aptitude rather than group identity.

1. 11SHODH, SAMIKSHA AUR MULYANKAN
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E-ISSN- 2320-5474, July, 2013 VOL-V * ISSUE -54
Introduction:-
Society creates education and education cre-
ates a new society. All persons are born equal in the
eyes of God, this is an axiom having universal accep-
tance; therefore there should be no discrimination of
any sort against a particular segment of society and
similarly no one should have undue advantage at the
expense of others. According to the famous philoso-
pherSantayana,theprincipleofequalityitselfisdefec-
tive, he says ," Equality of unequal is inequality; it
cannot be equality".
In the history of India the year 1979 acquires
significance, partly owing to the acceptance of the
MandalCommissionreportbythegovernmentofIndia
and partlyowing to the valiance that followed because
of only being against the constitutional principle of
'Equality of opportunity' and also because of imagi-
nary fears of the students of socially advantaged sec-
tions of the society that they will be deprived of what
was their due because ofmerit. In the words ofNani.A
.Palkhiwala," Theavowed decisionoftheIndiangov-
ernmenttoimplement'withoutanydilution'theMandal
report (which had been wisely kept in cold storage for
morethanadecade)isa'HimalayanBlunder'.Hefurther
adds -but the implementation of the Mandal report
would go against the basic structure of the constitu-
tion. Our thoughtless action to achieve the thoughtful
object of doing justice to the backward castes can be
allowed to prevail only by scrapping the nobel consti-
tution and promulgating a backward constitution for a
backward nation.
Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru's opinion is worth
mentioning here, he said - " I dislike any kind of reser-
vation more particularly in service .I react strongly
against anything which leads to inefficiency and sec-
ond rate standards .But if we go in for reservations on
communaland castebasis,weswamp thebrightpeople
to remain second and third rate. This way has not only
Research Paper -Education
July, 2013
Study of TheAttitude of Students of Higher and
Professional Education Towards Reservation
* Harpuneet Kaur** Dr . SoumyaNayyar
*Ph.dResearchScholar-MATS University,Raipur(C.G)
**H.O.D(Edu)-PragatiCollege,Raipur.(C.G)
Some people think equality of educational opportunities means identical education to all. This conception is wrong, equality
here means education best suited to the intelligence and aptitude of every child. The purpose of the study is to find the attitude
of the students of higher and professional education towards reservation. A sample of 300 students of professional colleges
of Durg (C.G) has been taken for the study.
A B S T R A C T
folly but disaster . Let us help the backward groups by
all means , but never at the cost of efficiency."
Ideally no injustice should be done to the
meritorious,irrespectiveofhisclass,casteorreligion.
Any policy that does injustice to the merit injures the
societyinthelongrun.Onlyonthegroundsofpolitical
expediency can advocacy of reservation for higher
education be defended ? But no amount of logical
argument will cut any ice with politicians , who unfor-
tunatelyinour countryareextremelyshort sighted and
selfish.
ObjectivesofTheStudy:-
1. To compare the attitudes of boys and girls of
higherandprofessionaleducationtowardsreservation
in education 2. To compare the attitudes of reserved
and non reserved category students regarding reserva
tionfordifferentcategoriesineducation3.Tocompare
the attitudes of girls and boys towards "Reservation
on caste basis" in higher and professional education.
4. To compare the attitude of girls and boys towards
"Reservationforlowincomegroup" inhigherand pro-
fessionaleducation.5.To studytheattitudeofgirlsand
boys of higher and professional education towards
amend ments of reservation provisions.
HypothesisForTheStudy:-
1. There exists significant difference in the attitude of
boys and girls of higher and professional education
towards reservation in education. 2.There exists sig-
nificant difference in the attitude of students of re-
served and non reserved categories towards reserva-
tion in education. 3.There exists significant difference
in the attitude of boys and girls for "Reservation on
caste basis" in education. 4.There exists significant
difference in the attitude of boys and girls for "Reser-
vation for low income group" in education. 5.There
exists no difference in the attitude of students towards
need for amendments in res
ervation provisions.

2. 12
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E-ISSN- 2320-5474, July, 2013 VOL-V * ISSUE -54
1. Baghel. H. N - Education and Indian Society. Hari Prasad Bhargav,Agra (1985)
2. Chatterjee .B.B - "Social cost of reservation in higher Education". Journal of higher education Vol.9 (1) (1983)
3. Saxena N.R.S - Philosophical & Sociological foundations Of education. Surya publication - Meerut (2003)
4. www.ambedkar.org
5. www.ncela.gwu.edu.google.com
R E F E R E N C E
DelimitationsofTheStudy:-
1. It is primarily a comparative study by nature. 2. The
sampleincluded 150 students ofprofessionalcolleges
of Chhattisgarh only. 3. The attitudes of students may
be affected by the family environment or some other
causes. 4. There is a possibility of the negative atti-
tude of students for some reserved categories just
because they have read or heard about them nega-
tively. 5. There is a possibility of positive attitude of
students for some reserved categories just because of
a soft corner for them.
UniverseForTheStudy:-
For the present study the accessible population
comprisesofthe94collegesofhigherand professional
education (73 under the affiliation of Pt. Ravishankar
shuklauniversity,Raipurand21undertheaffiliationof
SwamiVivekanandTechnicaluniversity,Bhilai)located
in Durg district.
SampleForTheStudy:-
Random sampling technique was opted for the
study .On random basis the students from 30 different
colleges have been selected. Total 300 students were
selected for the study.
ToolsForTheStudy:-
For the present study the investigator has
used aselfprepared 'Questionnaire'as atoolto find the
attitude of students of higher and professional educa-
tion towards reservation in higher and professional
education. It consists of 60 items under 6 major heads
ofReservationforgirls,ReservationforWidows,Res-
ervationforLowIncomeGroup,Reservation onCaste
basis, Reservation for Descendents of freedom fight-
ers and Sainiks, Need for amendments in reservation
policies.
Findings of The Study :-
Table showing percentage of the girls and boys in
favour and against reservation for different categories
It is evident from the above table that there exists
significant difference in the attitude of students (girls
and boys) of higher and professional education to-
wards reservation for various categories. Girls show
more positive attitude for reservation for Widows and
low income group. Whereas , 95.33 % students show
their responses against any sort of reservation in edu-
cation and feel the need of amendments in reservation
policies.
Suggestions :-
1. The selection in higher and professional studies
should be only on the basis of merit so as to main-
tain the educational standards. 2. Students of back-
ward classes , low income, physical handicap or any
othercategoryshould beprovided withprovisionslike
fee concession, free books and other relevant facili-
ties but not reservation. 3. Reserved category stu-
dentsshould alwaysbe giventheideathatitisthemerit
or intelligence which will ultimately contribute to the
progress of our country and not reservation. 4.Aware-
ness should be developed in the society regarding the
harms ofreservation to the common people and it ben-
efits to the political parties.
Conclusion:-
It can be concluded that ,today the educational
standards are falling down due to such reservation
policies, these policies are developing a negative atti-
tude among the students and professionals .Frustra-
tion ,distress and unsatisfaction can be seen in the
present society because of such policies. Equality of
educational opportunities means the education best
suited to the intelligence and aptitude of every child.
For more than 60 years those who availed the benefits
of reservation are now well placed and access com-
mand over all the necessary resources. The flawed
concept of reservation completely ignoring the eco-
nomicandsocialstatusofthebeneficiariesisoneofthe
reason that even after 60 years of its existence , reser-
vations could not lift the status of backward classes.
The societyof intellectualIndians todaywant equality
of educational opportunities in education but not at
the cost of efficiency.
TypeofReservation. Girls in Girls Boys in Favour Boys
Favour Against Against
1. ReservationforGirls 57.78% 42.22% 36.67 % 63.33%
2. Reservation for Widows 67.78% 32.22% 48.33 % 51.67%
3. Reservation for Low income group 81.11% 18.89% 56.67 % 43.33%
4. Reservation on Caste basis. 33.37% 63.33% 16.67 % 83.33%
5. Reservation for descendents of FF&sainik 56.67% 43.33% 38.33 % 61.67%
6. Need for amendments in reservation policies 96.67% 3.33% 93.34 % 6.67%