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Equality of Educational Opportunities:

2022 SOCIOLOGY-COMPLETE SOLUTIONS

Provision of equal opportunities is the accepted working policy of all democratic nations. As Dr. Radhakrishnan said long ago, ‘Democracy provides only that all people should have equal opportunities for the development of their unequal talents’. Article 15, 16, 17, 38 and 48 of the Indian Constitution also guarantees that the state shall not discriminate between people on the basis of their religion, or region or caste or class. The Preamble of the Constitution also assures equality to all citizens. This implies that the Constitution is committed to the principle of equality and has accepted it as an article of faith.

He further added that, “One of the important social objectives of education is equality of opportunity, to enable the backward or disadvantaged sections and individuals.

Duals use education as a lever to improve their position. Every society that values social justice and is eager to improve the condition of the common man and develop all available talents must ensure progressive equality of opportunity for all sections of the population. This is the only guarantee of building an egalitarian human society, which will minimize the exploitation of mankind.

Need for equalization of educational opportunities:

It is essentially linked to the notion of equality in the social system. A social system that intends to provide equal opportunities for advancement to all must also make provision for equal educational opportunities. The reasons for such similarity are as follows:

1. Equality of educational opportunities is necessary for the establishment of an egalitarian society based on social equality and justice,
2. It contributes to the discovery of talents among all the people of the nation
3. It is necessary to ensure rapid progress of a nation

4. It is needed for successful functioning of democracy (educated people can ensure a meaningful democracy)
5. It helps in developing a closer relationship between the manpower needs of the society and the availability of skilled personnel

Role of Education in Equal Opportunities:

It is now widely believed that the provision of equality of education has become an absolute necessity to improve one’s social status. In modern society, it is possible to acquire competence and competence only through education. Education plays an important role in leading individuals towards upward social mobility. M.S.Gore is of the opinion that education plays a role in equalizing opportunities in three important ways:

1) By creating opportunities that should be made available to all who have the will and ability to benefit from them
2) By preparing materials of instruction which endeavor to promote the development of a scientific and practical outlook
3) By establishing a social environment on the basis of religion, language, caste, class etc. to provide equal opportunities to get good education.

It is a fact that education is not the only means of social mobility, but at the same time it is equally true that lack of education proves to be a major hindrance in mobility. Studies have shown that the underprivileged sections (SC, ST, OBC, women and others) in our society have been exploited because of their illiteracy. At the same time, he has also revealed that education has proved to be an effective means of equality especially for these classes.

Causes of Educational Inequalities:

1) Inequality of educational opportunity is caused by the poverty of a large number of people as they cannot afford education
2) Children studying in schools with less facilities in rural areas have to compete with children in urban areas that have well-equipped schools. Rural children’s poor performance may worsen their performance
3) In the absence of better educational facilities in the nearby area, children may find it difficult to go to remote areas to study.

4) Differences in home environment also lead to wider disparities, children living in slums may not get the same environment that children of elite parents get.
5) India continues to have wide gender inequality. Therefore, education of girls is not encouraged equally as that of boys at all levels of education
6) The education of the backward communities (SC, ST etc.) is not at par with the forward or mainstream communities of the society

Suggestions to remove inequality in educational opportunity in India:

The Government of India is trying to achieve the goal of providing equal educational opportunities to all. Some suggestions can be given as follows:
1) Adult illiteracy has to be removed by introducing suitable literacy programs to take advantage of education and to remove prejudices and biases
2) All efforts should be made to increase the opportunities of education for all the weaker sections of the society by following the policy of ‘protective discrimination’.
3) Serious efforts should be made to provide compulsory education to all children
4) Opportunities for higher education should be extended to all on the basis of merit
5) The Education Commission suggests:
i) Education should be made immediate for all at primary and secondary level and tuition free at university for the least needy deserving students.
ii) Text books and stationery should be supplied free of cost at the primary level
iii) girl student
Transport facilities should be provided to the students to reduce the accommodation and scholarship cost
iv) Facilities for students to earn a part of their educational expenses, i.e. “Earn while you learn”, schemes should be developed
v) There should be liberal schemes for scholarship
vi) Broad differences that are found in variation in educational development
states and districts should be minimized to a desirable content
The above discussion points to the fact that educational disparities can be addressed through careful and strong policy level changes. For this the government needs to take immediate steps