Pattern and Determinants of Social Exclusion in Schools Among Children of Scavenger Community at Primary Level Education in India

Abstract

Untouchability inhibits scavengers from accessing facilities in housing, marriage, employment, education, and general social interaction— divisions that are reinforced through economic boycotts and physical violence. Members of the community are forced to perform tasks deemed too “polluting” or degrading for non‐Dalits. The children of manual scavengers are vulnerable to discrimination in their schools, where they are forced to perform cleaning and scavenging work, and where discrimination undermines all aspects of their education and often cause them to drop out of school altogether because of their caste. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore the question of educational status among scavengers at first hand and to understand the concerned issue at depth and in relation to their double marginalisation and exclusion in Society which also affects their educational aspirations and becomes a matter of grave concern amongst them.