Inequitable Structures: Class and Caste in Indian Higher Education

• In Event: 52.033 - Life History Research: Different Approaches, Future Directions

Abstract

Over a generation ago, the Indian government faced a dilemma: it wanted to dramatically increase the number of students attending postsecondary institutions, but it lacked adequate funding for public higher education development. Consequently, private, non-profit colleges are prominent in India’s higher education landscape. According to recent estimates (MHRD, 2015), India has 35,357 higher-education institutions and 32.3 million students. Of India’s 35,357 higher education institutions, 22,100 are private colleges. Although many say that the entire system is riddled with corruption, most are troubled by the 22,100 private colleges where bribery seems to be the norm, rather than the exception.
In India, university students from scheduled castes face a number of challenges that not only prevent them from graduating, but also from being strong performers at the university and upon graduation. Our argument is twofold. First, we have made the assumption that life histories of young people afford those who are concerned about higher education the opportunity to understand the inner lives of university students in ways that surveys and singular interviews or focus groups do not. Second, we shall suggest that although a student’s cognitive ability is certainly a critical factor in academic performance, what we shall discuss as non-cognitive variables help frame students’ academic performance. Non-cognitive variables highlight the shortcomings students have with regard to the creation and elaboration of social capital. In turn, social capital either qualifies or disqualifies individuals and groups to achieve specific goals and objectives through the creation and elaboration of networks (Bourdieu, 1973, 1986).
Therefore, utilizing the framework of social capital, this paper employs a life history methodology to understand the lived realities of four male Indian adolescents from different scheduled castes in India who are currently in their third year of university studies. Although the findings support the notion that overt acts of discrimination based on a student’s caste are negligible, lower-caste students have limited access to the networks that create social capital. Moreover, institutional efforts to develop or enhance student social capital are minimal. For these reasons, the paper concludes that systemic reform is necessary to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds overcome less obvious forms of discrimination so that they might succeed during college and after graduation.

Authors

• William G. Tierney, University of Southern California

• Nidhi Sabharwal