‘Common School System’ will erase inequalities in education: Prof Narasimha Reddy

Hyderabad: Former Professor of Economics, D Narasimha Reddy at CESS (Centre for Economic and Social Studies) suggested that ‘common school system’ was a strong means for arresting the deepening inequalities in access to quality education.

Speaking at the ‘Waheeduddin Khan Memorial Lecture’ organised by CESS, he said that the inequality may be seen to become rampant among the middle class, which seems to be hollowing out or thinning out with impact seen in its ability to afford to basic entitlements like education and health among other areas.

“Inequality in higher education is growing as a result of growing income inequality, the pace of which has accelerated significantly since 2000. Consequences of this inequality are detrimental to the goals of inclusive growth. The seeds of equality to education are sown at the level of basic schooling” he said.

Substantiating the state of inequality in higher education with findings from the various rounds of NSSO studies he drew the trends of enrolment ratio in higher education among social groups between 1993-94 and 2017-18 and the rural urban divide in the distribution of students attending various types of institutions of higher education, by caste and religious groups.

The empirical evidence of educational opportunities in higher education for different social and religious groups shows that the gap between groups persisted with the ‘Others’ at the top and ST at the bottom. Within all social groups there is gender gap, rural–urban and economic class or income gap. What is striking from the empirical data is in groups such as Muslim OBC though poverty rate is lower but rate of attending higher education institutions is lower compared to ST, SC, non-Muslim OBC and Muslim Upper class. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Dilip M Nachane, Chairman CESS, Hyderabad.