Does ‘Caste Matters’ in School Education: A Preliminary Study in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relationship between the caste background of the students and the school choice, access to cultural and educational resources, and the prevalence of caste-based discrimination within the schools in the Kushinagar District of Uttar Pradesh. Using mixed methods of data collection, the study finds that the share of scheduled caste (SC) students successively declines while moving from public to private schools, at the same time, it increases for the general category students. Further, although the access to capital/educational resources exhibits caste characteristics as it is skewed in favour of forward caste students, it is collectively the students from rural backgrounds who face the resource crunch underscoring the regional and class inequalities as well. As such, caste hierarchy and inequality continue to shape and determine inequality and unequal outcomes in school education in India.