Democratic Inequalities: The Dilemma of Elementary Education in India

Abstract

When asked to write a paper on democracy and education in India, I started off by speculating about the link between the two. India has witnessed over 20 national general elections and innumerable state and local government elections. Women and men come out in large numbers to cast their vote. Every few years the largely semiliterate and illiterate electorate votes governments out of power and makes its voice heard. This is no mean achievement. If this is indeed the case, what is the relationship between education and democracy? Philosopher John Dewey posits a positive correlation between the two and argues that education is a central requirement for a democratic and inclusive polity. But India’s experience with electoral politics could lead one to argue that the classic doctrine does not apply to India. Is this really so? How does education or the lack of it and inherent inequality in quality and access impact on democratic practice? I begin with a personal journey and move on to explore the twists and turns in the discourse of education, equity and democracy. I started working with women convinced that women as individuals have little voice in our democracy and that coming together as a group, a collective, would enable them to negotiate the world around them from a position of strength – whether they are literate or illiterate, educated or uneducated. So I worked with like-minded people in a government programme (Mahila Samakhya: Education for Women’s Equality) that facilitated the formation of women’s groups, engaged them in processes that helped them refl ect on their life experience, share personal struggles and discern patterns of oppression. This, I believed would create opportunities to transcend their personal life situation and look at oppression, discrimination and violence as a social phenomenon as a product of social and gender relations in society, caste and class dynamics that frame the lives of people. I was convinced this would initiate a process of real education – develop ability for critical thinking, the confi dence to articulate problems and issues and make more informed choices. Yet, as we went ahead with our agenda of empowerment, we came to a roadblock. The very fact that most women we worked with were either illiterate or barely literate inhibited their ability to take control of the institutions that they had created, affecting their ability to participate as equals. Leadership of groups and federation of women’s groups invariably passed on to people who were educated – those who could deal with