Awareness of Education and Scheduled Caste: A Case Study

Abstract

A trend has emerged of not defining education as a "human right" anymore, but of rather calling it a "human need". The Scheduled Castes are historically disadvantaged people who are given express recognition in the Constitution of India. During the period of British rule in the Indian sub-continent they were known as the Depressed Class. The caste system has created and sustained an unequal opportunity structure, which is anathema to the egalitarian principles which are the basis of a modern democratic society. What is worse, it intensifies and perpetuates the sufferings and servitude of disadvantaged caste class groups by reducing their access to development benefits vis-a-vis the higher caste class groups. The right to education originates from the apparent motion that it is obligatory for the state to provide education to its citizens. The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2010 describes the modalities having the provision for free and compulsory education for children between 6 to 14 years under Article 21A of the Indian constitution. This Act makes education as fundamental right of every child enforceable by law. Education is empowerment for socio-economic mobility, an instrument for reducing socio-economic inequalities, and equipment to trigger growth and development. In India, the total literacy rate is 74.04%. The male literacy rate is 82.14% and the female literacy rate is 65.46%. The literacy rate of Scheduled Caste males is 73.0% and that of the female is 52.1%. The study was conducted at Ramchandrapur village of Bangaon Sub-Division of North 24 Parganas covering both the sexes of the Scheduled Castes to understand the gender disparity, if any, in the studied villages. The objective of the study is to understand Right to Education and Right to Equality of Scheduled Caste, to study the nature and level of education of Scheduled Caste, particularly examining the disparity of education, if any, and to study educational rights and awareness about the rights among the Scheduled Caste.