This document discusses issues of inequality and marginalization in education, and proposes ideas for making schools more inclusive and child-centered. Some key points: - It notes that traditional social biases influence how schools operate and marginalize certain groups. Factors like caste, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion can disadvantage some students. - The current system prioritizes a textbook-based curriculum over students' own experiences and voices. It neglects the local cultural diversity present in many communities. - To be more inclusive, education must empower marginalized students and value their backgrounds, languages, and perspectives. It should make students active participants instead of passive receivers of information. - Odisha has significant

1. Dr.Mahendra K Mishra
State Tribal and Minority Education
Coordinator,
Orissa Primary Education Programme
Authority
Bhubaneswar 751001
E mail : mkmfolk@gmail.com
www.opepa.in

2.  all education is inherently political and
all pedagogy must be aware of this
condition
 a social and educational vision of justice
and equality should ground all education
 issues of race, class, gender, sexuality,
religion, and physical ability are all
important domains of oppression and
critical anti-hegemonic action.
 the alleviation of oppression and human
suffering is a key dimension of
educational purpose

3.  Schools must not hurt students--
good schools don't blame
students for their failures or strip
students of the knowledges they
bring to the classroom
Joe L Kincheloe
On Critical Pedagogy

4.  Village
 A composition of many
languages, ethnicity,
religion do coexists
 What is the secret that
perpetuates the co
existence of these
diversities in the
villages
 School
Though physical access is
not denied, children’s
cultural values and
experience is not
captured
What's the secret that
denies the diversities of
language, ethnicity and
gender

5.  Marginalized are secluded from the sacred
centers
 They live in a secluded place
 Visible social barrier ( well, tank, temple)
 Traditional culture has perpetuated this in the
society

6.  Are these social inequalities
influence the school ?
 Curriculum and content ?
 Teachers attitude ?
 School management ?
 Classroom behaviors ?
 Learning of children ?

7.  Who are the
marginalized
 Lower castes/class
 Powerless
 Poor
 Illiterate
 Working class
 Unprivileged
 Who are not
 Upper Caste/class
 powerful
 Rich
 Literate
 Ruling class
 privileged

8.  Dalits
 Adivasi
 Muslims
 Artisan castes
 Women
 Migrants
 Urban deprived
 Nomadic

9. Children from
 Different languages
 Different religion
 Different ethnic groups
 different cultural background
Teachers as authority (on the chair ) and children
in culture of silence (sitting on the ground)
Is the school replicate our inherited colonial
mind set ?

10.  The As-Is Situation
 Often the only voice heard in class is that of the
teacher.
 When children’s voices are heard, they are
answering the teacher’s questions or repeating
the teacher’s words.
 Do the children’s voice matter? (in side out)
 Do the children have choices of learning from
their language and cultural context ?

11.  The formal approach, of equality of
treatment in terms of equal access or
equal representation for girls, is
inadequate. Today, there is a need to
adopt a substantive approach,
towards equality of outcome, where
diversity, difference and
disadvantage are taken into
account.(p.6)

12.  Marginalized learners, and
especially girls, to claim their rights
as well as play an active role in
shaping collective life, education
must empower them to overcome
the disadvantages of unequal
socialization and enable them to
develop their capabilities of
becoming autonomous and equal
citizens.(p.6)

13.  To make it an inclusive and meaningful
experience for children
 To move away from a textbook culture to
connect with children’s life
Child centered pedagogy:
 Gives primacy to children’s experiences
 gives primacy to their voices
 gives primacy to their active participation

14. NO
 Why
 Traditional social biases
 Mind set of untouchability( high /low)
 Behaviour /Body language
 Cultural attitude
 Sitting arrangement in classroom
 gender disparity/caste based space management
 priority to upper caste children and importance
to upper caste teachers
 Neglect to Adivasi and Dalit children
 All these are invisible in our mind set..

15. Different make-beliefs on other’s
,language,ethinicity, religion
(we all enjoy holidays of other religion but we
don’t know the background)
Do we know about the Muslims and Christians
literature ?
Why we fail in understand them ?
Is there any source in our education to know
their culture?

16.  Marginalized children have physical access to
the school
 But they are intellectually neglected
 Rich human values of Adivasi is not discussed
 Dignity of labour of workers are not
respected
 Contribution of Muslims are ignored
 Tolerance of women and girls are ignored
 Service of Christians are misunderstood

17. Uniform curriculum and textbooks have little
space for cultural diversities
Local social, religious or linguistic diversities are
not discussed in the classrooms
Curriculum designers / Textbook writers and
teachers always chant “mainstream” mantra

18.  Faithful follower of text books ( course
completion syndrome )
 Only what is written is knowledge and others
are not (exam related texts)
 Ignores knowledge outside classroom
 No emphasis to the social composition of the
village/city which is constitutive of children’s
knowledge and environment
 No or less connectivity with village and
school

19.  Inter-district disparity in the state
 (one district 85% literate another is below 30
% in case of tribal )
 Monolingual , mono-cultural curriculum in
multilingual classroom
 No mention of social strength ( multiethnic
and multi cultural society)

20.  There are 11614 schools with more than 20
children with linguistic diversities
 Total 683745 children (6- 14 age )
 58 000 Santali children
 ( 44265 Telugu,
 45449 Bengali,
 32189 Hindi
 Other tribal languages : 396843 children
 Other 16067 language s

21.  90611 Muslim children are Urdu speakers
 78 Recognized Madras for 10000 children
 ..Unrecognized Madrasas for…..children
 Many Muslim girls still denied access
 17 lakhs Adibasi children

22.  Lets initiate the dialogue ..
 Why these disparities..
 How to resolve them ..

23. Thank you