Universalizing the Indian education system: The journey from inclusion to exclusion
- Social Action: A quarterly Review of Social Tends
- 71(4), Oct-Dec, 2021: p.355-368
Universalization of education has remained a major goal for the Indian education system. However, certain sections of the Indian society are still considered 'Unclean and outcast'. Hence despite several inclusionary initiatives by the government, education among certain marginalized sections has always remained on the verge of exclusion. Based on an empirical study, the paper presents a socio-spatial analysis of dirt to explore the exclusionary practices/pressures in the Indian education system against the students belonging to households associated with 'unclean' occupations. The paper revisits Mary Douglas's concept of dirt as 'matter out of place' to illustrate the manifestations of purity and danger that transform inclusionary initiatives into exclusionary practices against the marginalized. Such exclusionary practices act as ways to maintain the social order and a state of purity that tends to displace the so-called dirt out of the education system. Furthermore, to depict the modalities to eradicate the so-called dirt from the education system, the paper builds on Julia Kristeva's theory of Abjection and describes the process of 'Cleaning up'. – Reproduced