Inequity in education : structural dimensions of the problem

Levels of formal education as against levels of mere literacy are significant markers in any society; more so in one that is organised so strongly on caste, class and religious lines and where social and economic exclusions were the norm for some sections of the population for a long period in history. Postindependent efforts to universalise education as well as compensate for past discriminations have gone some way in providing a measure of justice. However, the persistence of structural constraints as well as the logged-jam effect of poverty not only militate against the accessing of existing educational facilities but also make it difficult for these sections of the population to break free of the many interlinked shackles binding them

Inequity in education : structural dimensions of the problem

Levels of formal education as against levels of mere literacy are significant markers in any society; more so in one that is organised so strongly on caste, class and religious lines and where social and economic exclusions were the norm for some sections of the population for a long period in history. Postindependent efforts to universalise education as well as compensate for past discriminations have gone some way in providing a measure of justice. However, the persistence of structural constraints as well as the logged-jam effect of poverty not only militate against the accessing of existing educational facilities but also make it difficult for these sections of the population to break free of the many interlinked shackles binding them

Ethics in Social Science Research: Reflections from a Student of Economics

If poverty and nutrition are issues also of social justice and the commitment that a democratic state makes to its citizens (namely, ridding the country of hunger and malnutrition and also of ensuring food security) then the discipline of economics needs to pose its problem differently. The association of certain concepts with certain kinds of values and endowments creates dilemmas for the way we pose our research questions, and much more for the way in which such research is funded and/or prioritized over other research questions.ethics, poverty, nutrition, social justice, values, research questions, democracy, welfare state, food security, Ecoomics, sociology