Higher education and disadvantaged groups in India

Abstract

The Constitution of India enjoins the state to ensure equality of opportunity, disapproves any form of discrimination and includes special provisions for the socially and educationally disadvantaged classes. The affirmative actions in practice include reservation of places for the disadvantaged groups in educational institutions, in employment market and provision of scholarships, grants and other student support measures. This chapter analyses issues related to inequalities in access to and success in education of the disadvantaged groups in India. The move toward the Right to Education Act in 2009 in India was a serious effort to equalize educational opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid to promote an inclusive development. With the adoption of economic reforms in India in the 1990s, the role of the private sector in higher education has significantly increased and it also resulted in reducing the State’s commitment toward the social sector under the pretext of fiscal discipline.