Creating School Pathways for Children of Marginalised Communities in Primary Schools in India

This paper focuses on the school pathways of students who come from marginalized communities in rural India. The Constitution of India incorporated specific provisions to guarantee socioeconomic justice, equal opportunity, and dignity for marginalized groups. India implemented the Right to Education in the year 2010, keeping this objective in consideration. However, many marginalised communities remain excluded and unable to consistently participate in educational institutions. In this context, this research examines the educational status of children in denotified tribes in northern India. During the colonial period in India, the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 designated certain denotified tribes as criminal tribes. Despite their removal from the Criminal Tribes list after independence, the stigma of their past criminal status continues to haunt them. The communities under focus are not only denotified tribes, but they also engage in sex work as their traditional occupation, with their livelihood heavily reliant on the earnings from sex work. For them, education is the most dispensable entity due to the discrimination faced by them and monotonous curriculum. This paper explores the various sociocultural factors that contribute to the high dropout rate and disinterest in education among the denotified tribes in primary schools. This paper delves into the discrimination that these de-notified tribes face at the school, community, and administration levels, which keeps them away from educational institutions and create social hierarchies. The paper further delves into an experimental model that shows how students from diverse backgrounds can cultivate their interest in education and effectively engage in schools through innovative learning methods. It discusses how the community's involvement can have a meaningful impact on the schools. The study employs ethnography as its central research method. Specifically, the method included participant observation, and in-depth interviews.