Socially disadvantaged children face many obstacles including poverty, poor health, nutrition, housing, and lack of education. They have poor cognitive development and struggle academically due to lack of parental involvement, premature school leaving, low aspirations, poor adjustment and mental health issues. Factors influencing disadvantaged families include physical home environment, economic stress, and social factors. In India, scheduled castes, tribes, other backward classes, women, children with special needs, and minorities are often considered disadvantaged. Education aims to provide skills for functioning in society and compensate for inequality, but disadvantaged pupils still struggle with ambition, self-esteem, behavior, school culture and relevance of curriculum.

1. SOCIALLY
DISADVANTAGED

3.  The term disadvantaged and is used to refer to those
children who are economically, educationally, and
socially disadvantaged.
 Components
 poverty
 Ill-health
 Poor nutrition
 Poor housing
 Lack of proper education

4.  S-D children are especially handicapped by their basic
poor cognitive background.
 Poor attention
 Lack of involvement in academics
 Pre-mature school termination
 Low level of aspiration
 Poor school achievement
 Lack in adjustment
 Depressed
 Anxiety

5. Factors influencing the family
 Physical factors
 Home environment
 Economic factors
 Poor income, tension, strain,
 Social factors

6. Who are disadvantaged in Indian
context
 In common parlance, the following are
considered disadvantaged section.
 Scheduled caste
 Scheduled tribe
 Other backward classes
 Women/girls
 Children with special needs
 Minorities

7.  Sense of Insecurity:
 poor, illiterate
 Lack of Motivation:
 lack motivation for changing their backward conditions
and for progress in any direction.
 Personal Disorganization:
 Alcoholism, drug addiction, mental diseases, sense of
irresponsibility, lack of moral character, absence of higher
sentiments and even inability to lead a normal marital and
family life.

8. Role of school?
 One of main tasks of education: provide skills needed to
function in society.
 School is not the only actor, also parents and broader
environment.
 More knowledge, skills and attitudes can be developed in
certain social environments than in others.
 Compensating for this inequality is a specific emancipator
task of education.
 Education has to try to ensure that the position that
someone achieves in society does not depend solely on the
opportunities offered by the home context.

9. What do we know about the effects of poverty and
disadvantage?
Disadvantaged pupils are more likely to
Lack in ambition
self-esteem,
behavioural problems
difficulty relating to their peers.
Disadvantaged pupils are more likely to see the
curriculum as irrelevant.
Pupils in disadvantaged schools have limited access to
music, art and out-of-school activities that pupils in
advantaged schools generally take for granted.

10. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
poor attendance record
often less likely to accept the school culture.
Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be not in
employment, education or training.
Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to have
parents who are less involved in their children’s education and have a
negative perception and experience of school and education.

11.  Disadvantaged children have been considered as those whose
home background does not prepare them as well as other children
for an education which largely reflects middle-class values.
 Disadvantage is often associated with poverty and, indeed, one
would expect to find a considerable number of disadvantaged
children living in areas whose visible characteristics include poor
housing, low income and high unemployment.