Going to School

UNIT 2 GOING TO SCHOOL

Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 Schooling (as a modern institution in children’s lives)
2.4 Relationship with Teachers
2.4.1 Teachers Expectation and Student Achievement
2.5 Relationship with Peers
2.5.1 Friendships and Groups: Class, Caste, Gender
2.5.2 Acceptance, Competition, Cooperation and Conflict.
2.5.3 Aggression and Bullying
2.6 Children who are out of School
2.7 Let Us Sum-Up
2.8 Unit-End Exercises
2.9 Answers to Check Your Progress
2.10 Suggested Readings

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Going to school marks a significant occasion in the lives of the children who can
access the school. It marks a time when a new institution becomes a part of the social
world of children. A child begins to relate to several others apart from the family and
community. She meets the teachers and headmaster or principal, same age and older
peers, peers from other gender, and strikes several kinds of relationships with them.
She has varied kinds of experiences in these relationships, both good and bad, which
form a part of understanding of the world and ways of relating to others. All these play
a formative role in the personality development of the child (including physical, social,
emotional, cognitive and language). For these children, school continues to be a part of
everyday life for at least twelve years. At the same time, there are several children
who are out-of school or are situated in such circumstances that they are unable to
prolong schooling. However, even when a child doesn’t go to school, the school still
forms a part of his/her larger social world. In this Unit we will try to reflect on these
experiences of going to school.

2.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
● Understand the place of school in the lives of children
● Critically appreciate the varied kinds of social relations that develop in school
● Reflect on the experiences of children who are out-of-school or face difficulty in
schooling

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Contexts of Development
2.3 SCHOOLING (AS A MODERN INSTITUTION IN
CHILDREN’S LIVES)
Schools have been around for so long that it is difficult to accept that the present form
of schools emerged in India only during colonial times. Before that there were no such
schools in India. However, there were other types of institutions where children or
young adults were socialized in the society’s ways of life. Like for example Gurukuls,
Madrasas, bahi-khata schools run by Munims and the like. The schools, as we know
them today, were first time established by Christian missionaries, which had come
from Europe. Even in Europe, these schools emerged much more prominently during
Industrial Revolution.
With the emergence of schools several kinds of changes came about in the socio-
political context, particularly in the social world of children. Before we proceed let us
think about the following:
Fig. 2.1: Gurukul
Activity I
1. Do you think schools are an important part of each of our lives? Why?
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2. What role does a school play in our life? List any five.
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Fig. 2.2: Madrassa
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3. What apart from the school syllabus, does a child learn at school?
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Fig. 2.3: School 4. How do you think society would have been without a school especially in context of
following:
a. Family’s role in a child’s life:
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b. Role of other institutions: (like neighborhood, extended family, community, etc).
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c. Role and position of children in family:
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It is a little difficult to imagine our life without schools. Imagining in such way make us
wonder about: What would children do during the day? Where would they be if their
parents are working? Would not having schools have an influence on structure of
family – such that the joint families would be more convenient? Would it have an
22
impact on the culture of work – such that one parent would have to be at home? Going to School
Would it also mean that children would be expected to assume some responsibilities of
home as and when they become physically capable? Would they become cognitively
mature earlier? How would their peer relations be? These are all questions which are
not very easy to think about, given the fact that many of our lives have come to evolve
around schooling.
The concept of school has come to guide how families plan their time, work, economics
and sometimes even location. School takes a considerable amount of time and focus
not only for the child, but for the entire family. Like for instance: the family wakes up
according to the school time, they prepare food according to school life, and plan their
home space (if at all they have enough space) according to educational needs of
children. At least one parent devotes time to facilitate homework and studies, parents
earn and save in a manner such that they can support educational needs of children,
and tuitions that sometimes come as a concomitant of schooling. Not just the child but
everybody in the family is anxious during the exam time and the result day marks an
occasion for joy or sorrow. A good amount of family talk and talk around us revolves
around schools. The decision for schooling is one of the most critical decisions that
families make. They even decide to pre-school the child so that s/he adjusts better in
school.

Activity II
Before we proceed further, describe a few more ways in which schooling intervenes in
everyday family life:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

It is clearly evident how school has come to form a central part of familial life and the
lives of children. However, going to school is a different experience for different
children.
Beginning to go to school

Fig. 2.4: Going to School 23

Contexts of Development Why do children go to school? Many reasons are there. The first and foremost reason
is to get education. Secondly, for socialization. According to socio-economic status
and one’s own perspective, the reasons may be varied. Studying the important lessons
of 3R’s are not the prime factor in schooling. The development of important social
skills is one of the leading reasons to send a toddler to preschool. By interacting with
other children at an early age, children learn how to behave, how to listen and how to
share. Playing with other children also help them to develop their personalities. When
a child is lonely at home, s/he has an individual learning experience where as going to
school widens his/her social web. The different attitude and responses of children
towards going to school can be analyzed from the following cases.

Case 1:
Sonu is a 6 year old child who has started going to school for the first time. He doesn’t
likes waking up at 6.30am in the morning, particularly in winters. The mother hurriedly
pulls him off the bed and dresses him up, while he is resisting getting ready. He mostly
gets scolded by the father for this behaviour. A cup of milk is forcibly gulped down his
throat, as it is already getting late for school. The father picks him up and runs for the
school. Sonu feels like crying on reaching the school gate. Inside the classroom he
sometimes cries as he wants to go back to his mother. Sonu’s teacher often scolds
him.
Initially, the father used to sit in the classroom for a while, and when Sonu settled
down, he slipped away quietly. Sonu cried even more when he saw that father had
gone. This is not only the case with Sonu, at least 70% of the class behaves this way.
The classroom is packed, not very clean, children sit chaotically as benches are less.
The children fight too often and push each other for space. No body listens to teacher.
Her lecture strategy doesn’t works in this condition. She speaks to children either in
English or in standard Hindi, while most children speak and understand the local dialect.
The teacher is fed-up and doesn’t know what to do. The school head master is least
bothered about all this; he only wants to see discipline in the school premises and
becomes very upset with the teacher if there is even a little ‘noise’.

Case 2:
Neetu is a 7 year old girl who has been going to school from past one year. Initially,
she did behave a bit like Sonu, but now she doesn’t. She gets up on her own as soon
as the mother asks her to. She dresses herself and takes milk and bread in breakfast.
Parents never hurry Neetu to school. In the initial days, they made sure that they met
the teacher often and talked to other parents as well. The parents introduced Neetu to
other children in the neighborhood who went to the same school and facilitated their
friendship. As a result, there are common friends at school and home. Many parents
also know each other’s children.
Amina has been Neetu’s teacher ever since. Neetu always finds her teacher at the
gate waiting for all children to come to school. Teacher warmly wishes Neetu and
asks her if she was well. When all children are settled in the classroom, the teacher
starts the class with some interesting activity. She ensures that all children get a chance
to speak and express. Amina has made an attempt to catch-up with the local dialect to
be able to understand the context well. Amina also makes sure that the classroom is
clean, properly lit, well ventilated and that all children are comfortably seated. She
doesn’t restrict and control the seating pattern of the classroom; so friends can sit
together. Amina, makes sure she talks to parents when they come to drop their children;
not to complain about children but to keep them updated about children’s general well-
being at school. It is interesting to note that the school head-master herself makes it a
point to talk to parents, teachers and children whenever possible. All children, parents
and teachers feel that headmaster is not only polite and well-spoken but is a role-
model for everybody.
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Case 3: Going to School

Neetu’s younger brother Manu, has joined the school this year, and strangely he doesn’t
cry like Sonu either. Both siblings walk down to school together and come back together.
Manu, however, is often found standing at the door of Neetu’s classroom. She gets
irritated at times. Neetu’s teacher realizes this difficulty of both the children and allows
Manu to sit in class. She also gives him some activity to engage with. Similarly, Manu’s
class teacher doesn’t shout at him and tries to keep him occupied in very interesting
activities. When Manu wants to go to see the sister, the teacher takes him to Neetu’s
class. The teachers observe that Manu is adjusting well and is much more independent
now. The parents though have been updated about Manu’s progress, but have never
been blamed for their child’s behavior. Both the teachers have discussed likings and
dislikings of all children with their parents.

Activity III
Analyse the above cases along following lines:

How do the following Sonu Neetu Manu

define the school
experience for the
three children?
Parents
Siblings
Teachers
Peers
Classroom infrastructure
Teaching-learning strategy and language
School Headmaster
School culture

Dialogue between home and school

Home-School continuity and discontinuity

If you carefully read the above matrix that you have developed, you will realize that in
the latter two cases, there is a greater interaction between the home and school. This
has helped both, Neetu and Manu, in adjusting to the school situation well.
Going to school is a time when a child for the first time is separated from home for a
considerable number of hours. This in itself is an emotionally challenging experience
for every child. S/he feels removed/ distanced from home and mother. S/he sees
unknown faces around to whom s/he is unable to relate to. The child is required to be
relatively independent and self-contained at school as against home. At school there
are many same aged people who compete for resources and teacher’s attention;
while usually the younger child is the most looked-after at home. The set of rules and
norms observed at school are very different from that at home. At times, there is a
distinction between school and home language as well. This is known as home-school
discontinuity.
A greater distinction between home and school ethos leads to a greater discontinuity
and makes it difficult for the children to adjust to the new institution. The more the
school culture and home culture coincide the more will the child feel comfortable. All
the factors that have been listed above for comparison play a role in ensuring greater
convergence between home and school.
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Contexts of Development The culture of the school also sometimes is distinct from the home culture as there is
a greater visibility of a socio-cultural diversity at school. There are varied language
contexts, religions, economic statuses, cultural practices and the like to which various
children belong. Even the teachers represent a different socio-cultural category. Unless
the school facilitates an ethos where this diversity is respected and utilized as a resource,
adjustment becomes very difficult (not only for the child but for all others involved in
the process of schooling children). It is often a source of several socio-emotional
conflicts. A teacher could play a central role in ensuring a cohesive school ethos.

Check Your Progress

Notes: (i) Write your answers in the space given below.
(ii) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
1. Which of the factors listed in the matrix do you think were the most critical in
making school experience different for Neetu and Sonu? Why?
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2. From among the first and second case, which of the teachers would you want
to be like? Why?
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2.4 RELATIONSHIP WITH TEACHERS

Relationship with the teacher is central to the entire school experience of the child. A
child who comes to school looks-up to the teacher not only as an academic facilitator
but also as an adult, who would assume several roles including that of a care taker, of
a friend, of a listener, of a problem solver, and also of a role model. Children imitate the
teacher in the process of growing-up and also internalize the way s/he speaks to and
behaves with them, their peers, the other teachers, the headmaster/principal and the
parents. They try to come-up to her standards and assess themselves against the
standards that teacher sets.

2.4.1 Teacher’s Expectation and Student Achievement

Most teachers have favourite students. S/he expects them to perform better than
others. Somehow the favorite children do match the teacher’s expectations. It seems
to be an interactive process whereby better performance of some children sets a
benchmark for teachers’ liking and expectations from them, and this benchmark in
itself makes children to strive for better. A teacher’s expectations get transferred to
the child, affecting child’s performance towards betterment.
More often than not the teacher is more attentive or even biased towards students
who perform better. Even when the ‘brighter’ children do not match the expectations,
it is perceived as lack of effort or caused by some external factor. However, the other
children who perform averagely or poorly, are always expected to perform the same.
The teachers usually don’t hope that they could perform better as they feel that they
lack the intrinsic quality to perform better (that the ‘brighter’ students have). This
reinforces a poor self-concept among the children. Such conditions force “slow
learners” or “poor performers” to become more reserved, or feel anxious and humiliated,
26 or even rebellious and aggressive.
Case 4: Going to School

Koena is a 10 year old girl, who has been going to school from past one year. She is
the eldest among her four siblings. She lives in a slum cluster across the river Yamuna
in Delhi. Her father has a contractual employment with a local kabadi [junk-dealer].
The work involves going to a certain area and picking-up bottles, cardboards, PVC
pipe wastes or steel/iron petty items that are disposed in garbage. The father takes
Koena and two other siblings along for work in the afternoon. All three of them carry
big plastic bags and sort out the items from the garbage scattered all around a market
place. They all bring these bags to home to collect the items gathered, clean and
assemble the items for selling to the contractor. Sometimes this consumes the entire
day after the school and Koena feels exhausted.
Koena’s teacher expects her to be at time and regular, to be in a neat uniform, to be
clean herself, to be active in classroom, to participate in co-curricular activities, to do
homework and perform well in exams. Koena doesn’t come-up to any of these
expectations. Most of the times, she is absent. She always appears to be exhausted
and sometimes fall asleep in the classroom. Her uniform is torn at places and dirty.
Koena herself also ‘appears’ less tidy. She never does her homework and has got
extremely low marks in all papers. She is scolded by the teacher every day but no
improvement is seen. The teacher is disgusted with her and many other children who
are like her.
Actually at least 70% of the children in the school are like Koena. Teacher feels that
these children and their parents have no interest in studying and that they come to
school for the mid-day meal and to avail various schemes. Koena dislikes going to
school now, though she liked it earlier.

Check Your Progress

Notes: (i) Write your answers in the space given below.
(ii) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
3. How do you infer Koena’s situation? Why do you think Koena is unable to
live-up to the teacher’s expectations?
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4. Do you think teacher’s expectations are justified? Give reasons in support of
your answer.
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5. Present your views on teacher’s belief that “these children and their parents
have no interest in studying and that they come to school for the mid-day meal
and to avail various schemes.”
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Many a times, teachers have some standard expectations from children. Like Koena’s
teacher has. However, in cases like that of Koena, it is not possible for children to
prove themselves against these standards.
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Contexts of Development The social world of Koena and many other children in the school doesn’t resemble the
teacher’s ideals. As a result there is a gap between teacher’s expectations and the
children’s performance and their life-worlds. A teacher who understands the social
context and profile of her learners would be able to make sense of the challenges they
face in the teaching-learning. Rather than expecting the irrational and unjustified, she
would be able to plan learning in a way that helps children in adjusting to the school
better.

Check Your Progress

Notes: (i) Write your answers in the space given below.
(ii) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
6. In Case 4 of Koena, do you think there is a discontinuity between home and
school? Give reasons for your answer.
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7. What will you suggest to Koena’s teacher?
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2.5 RELATIONSHIP WITH PEERS

Going to school brings another critical relationship in lives of children. This is a
relationship with same age people, or the peers. There are varied kinds of relationships
that peers share with each other. Although, these relationships apparently are simple,
in many ways they are much more complicated than those between the adults. Within
the broader peer group, every child finds a smaller group of children with whom s/he
relates. Do you remember your school friends? Why did you think you become friends
with those peers only?

2.5.1 Friendships and groups: Gender, class, caste

Activity IV
Try to recall the socio-cultural-economic profile of your friendship group. Compare your
socio-economic profile with their profile. What similarities and differences do you find on
the following aspects:
Aspect You Friend 1 Friend 2 Friend 3
Parents occupation
Estimated annual family income
Parents education
Your educational/career aspirations
Language spoken
Religion
House
Gender
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If you carefully analyse friendship groups in your school, you would be able to identify Going to School
some patterns. Though friendships appear to be simple matters of liking and striking a
chord with a particular group of children, they involve a complex matrix of social
norms and stratification. For this reason group formation among children is an area of
study and research in sociology, psychology and education.
In most cases, friendship groups in the schools become easily observable during lunch
hours and in the play field and so teachers are usually aware of the friendship groups
in her classroom. However, there could be many things she may not know about these
friendship groups. If the teacher does social profiling of the children in a friendship
group, most of the times she would be able to find several similarities in their profiles
on the following criterion:

Gender
In elementary grades children make more friends among same gender. There is a
general liking for playing and sitting with the same gender. Not only are these friendships
based on a comfort in being with same gender but are also based on a disliking or a
sense of competition with the opposite gender. As children grow up there is a greater
acceptability towards the other gender. Further in adolescence, there is also a tendency
of bonding between opposite genders, which is also because of the emotional
development to a stage where children look forward for companionship with opposite
gender.
It is not unusual to come across children who find greater comfort in opposite gender
groups from early grades. When such friendships are scrutinized or are discouraged,
it has a bearing on social development of children. In particular societies like ours, the
rigid social norms curtail even a healthy mixing among the genders, which usually
genders the society further.

Class and caste

Economic class is another category that seeps in friendship groups. If you would
analyse the friendship groups in general, there is a greater likelihood of friends being
from a similar economic class. You may find that in a friendship group, children’s
family incomes are similar, their parental occupations are similar and so is parents’
educational profile. Even if children become friends with children from a different
economic class, their friendships are either curtailed by adult intervention or fade
away with time.
The children’s dress, the things that they possess (like lunch box, pencil box), the
language that is spoken at home and several kinds of experiences, bear an impression
of family’s economic class. Such factors, in implicit ways, intervene in the process in
which children make in friends. There have been several studies that have reflected
on how economic class plays a role in the process of establishing relationships in
school not only with peers but also with teachers, and on how this entire relational
matrix reproduces the social class. Paul Willis’s (1971) work Learning to Labour is
one such work.
It is not unusual to say that social class also reflects influences of caste. Traditionally,
oppressed castes have been pushed to the margins of economic and social life by
structurally limiting the overall occupational matrix. Historically, a low social and
economic value has been attributed to the occupations to which certain castes are
restricted. This clearly restricts the socio-economic mobility of the oppressed castes
and it becomes implicit in all our social relationships, including school peer groups.
Although caste discriminations do not take place in explicit ways, the social
discriminations continue in all life-spheres in implicit ways, even at schools. They
become visible during mid-day meals, seating arrangements, parent-teacher meetings
and on many other occasions.
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Contexts of Development Caste continues to be a strong aspect in which children are socialized in our society.
We all even now are aware of our caste affiliations and may even have perceptions
about particular social castes. It is difficult to imagine how a belief and social structure,
that is so intertwined in our experiences, would not interfere in our social relationships
and friendships we make at different ages.

Check Your Progress

Notes: (i) Write your answers in the space given below.
(ii) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
8. Why do you think gender, caste and class reflect in friendship groups?
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9. Do you think religious affiliations also intervene in friendship relationships among

children? How?
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School could be visualized as a space where such stratifications can be broken. This
would require a school culture which ensures an egalitarian ethos, where the curriculum
delivered to the children is critically practiced in terms of the ideals embedded in it.

Social network in the classroom

It is easier to identify the friendship groups. However, it is not easy to identify how the
larger group relates in the classroom. Simply by observation it is not possible to
understand who among the children is seen as a leader, who is understood as a problem
solver, who are the children who are most liked by peers, who are thought of as being
most helpful, who are not liked and so on.
In order to understand these relationships, a teacher may use a particular method for
this purpose is called Sociometry. The word sociometry comes from the Latin
“socius,” meaning social and the Latin “metrum,” meaning measure. It is a way of
measuring the degree of relatedness among people. Sociometry is based on the
fact that adults and children make choices in interpersonal relationships. They make
choices with respect to where to sit or stand, about who is perceived as friendly and
who not, who is central to the group, who is rejected and who is isolated. When
members of a group are asked to choose others in the group based on a specific
criteria, everyone in the group can make choices and describe why the choices were
made. From these choices a description emerges of the networks inside the group
([Link] sociometry. htm).
An exercise has been given here for a teacher. This exercise would help you to
understand how children relate to each other:
Prepare a simple list of questions, in an easy language and distribute one copy of the
list to every child in the class. Ask the children to write their name on the copy of list
given to them. Make sure that the process is confidential. The list of the questions
should include questions which help in identifying children’s ideas about their peers.
30
Like for example:
● Whom would you choose to sit with everyday? Why? Going to School

● If you encounter a difficulty in finding solution to a problem in your assignment,

whom will you approach among all children in the class? Why?
● Who do you think is the most helpful person in the class? Why?
● Who do you would manage the class best in teacher’s absence? Why?
● Who do you think is fun to be with? Why?
Once the children have completed, collect all the slips and keep them with yourself.
After the class you may analyse the slips and see how children relate to each other.
Through this set of questions you would be able to find children who are chosen by the
group along the traits embedded in questions and an insight into why children chose
particular peers. From these choices a description emerges of the networks inside the
group. A teacher may represent the data in any way, say in a map of those networks,
called a sociogram. The data for the sociogram may also be compiled in a table of
each person’s choices. Such a table is called a sociomatrix.
Choices are always made on some basis or criterion. The criterion may be subjective,
such as an intuitive feeling of liking or disliking a person on first impression. The
criterion may be more objective and conscious, such as knowing that a person does or
does not have certain skills needed for a task. Measurement of relatedness can be
useful not only in the assessment of behavior within groups, but also for interventions
to bring about positive change and for determining the extent of change. For a work
group, sociometry can be a powerful tool for reducing conflict and improving
communication. Children who are on the periphery of the classroom may also be
identified, and teacher may be able to take positive steps of including them in the
classroom processes.

2.5.2 Acceptance, Competition, Cooperation and Conflict

Acceptance
The child, especially upper primary onwards, wants to be accepted by his/her peers
even more than s/he would want to be accepted by parents and teachers. Peer groups
also become affiliation groups for children and have a bearing on their self-concept
and their identity. A child who is not accepted in any social group in the class, is bound
to feel lonely and discriminated against. At times children structurally get excluded
from peer groups due to factors like caste, class, religion. This is particularly damaging
for the school culture as it reflects how inequalities of the society are intervening in
classroom without even being understood by the teacher. However, it is not necessary
that these are the causes of a child’s non-inclusion in any peer group; it may happen
for some other reasons as well.
Despite the fact that some children speak and interact less, having no body to talk to
or relate to at the school could be very disconcerting, especially in the early years of
life. At times, it is difficult to understand such situations only by observations. A teacher
can use the sociometry method to understand such situations better. A teacher may
ask questions relating to children’s friendship preferences (like who do you like to play
with?) and then identify the children who are not mentioned by any child. Based on
the response she could also think of ways through which she could understand the
situation better and intervene in it. It is important to keep in mind that a teacher does
not ask any questions that make some children vulnerable. Like for example, a teacher
must never ask, “who do you hate in the class? Or who do you think is the worst?”
and the like.

Competition, Cooperation and Conflict

Cooperation has been defined as “a social process through which performance is
evaluated and rewarded in terms of the collective achievements of a group of 31
Contexts of Development people working together to reach a particular goal” (Coakley, 1994, p.79). A
study suggested that cooperation embodies positive interdependence, competition
reflects negative interdependence, and found that students solved more problems in a
cooperative environment than students in a competitive environment. However, mere
requirement of group work does not leads to a cooperative learning environment. It
has to be established through and ethos of mutual respect and appreciation, valuing
the competence of each member in the group and using it appropriately, and carefully
planning groups such that the children depend on each other’s competence and learn
from them. In absence of such an ethos, group work would generate more conflicts
and would be counter-productive. It is also important to understand that even within
groups there could be internal competition.
Competition has been defined as “a social process that occurs when rewards are
given to people on the basis of how their performances compare with the
performances of others doing the same task or participating in the same
event” (Coakley , 1994, p. 78). Children compete with each other, but at times this
competition becomes so fierce that it leads to anxiety, stress and disliking for each
other. The teacher must ensure that she doesn’t reinforce competition among the
peers. She should ensure that children are not overburdened with expectations and
that extreme competitive situations are strategically curtailed. Competitions at times
are at the base of several peer group conflicts. These conflicts could be physical,
verbal or implicit. These create a situation of stress and discomfort not only for the
immediate people engaged but also hamper the environment of the classroom.

2.5.3 Aggression and bullying

Aggression could be one form in which competition manifests. Further there could be
various reasons for children’s aggression including a resistance to schooling and lack
of meaning in education. Aggressive behavior and actions like hitting, pushing, kicking,
vandalism and the like could be attributed to individuals or even groups at times. Group
aggression, is even more difficult to deal with and could emerge from several reasons
which demand a deeper professional inquiry. However, more often than not, cooperative
learning environments and schools that work in tandem with all stakeholders including
administration, parents and community, are less likely to encounter such problems.
Bullying is also a common problem of most classrooms. You must have come across
children, who misbehave with, tease or threaten children who are younger or weaker
or may be all children. Bullying may involve making unjust demands like for money,
snatching lunch or some item, or making fun. It may also take extreme forms like
ragging, battering or sexual abuse in senior classes.

Bullying can be
● Verbal – calling people names, saying nasty things, constant teasing.
● Physical shoving – pushing, punching, hitting, kicking.
● Nonverbal or emotional – leaving them out of activities, making threatening
gestures.
● Cyber bullying – sending threatening messages by email or on cell phones.
Bullying more often than not is usually a manifestation of a failure to adjust to the
school environment. The child who bully’s others is usually himself/herself undergoing
a stressful situation which gets projected in his/her hostility towards younger or
physically weaker children. It could be because s/he her/himself feels the need for
recognition which is not attributed to her/him in the school or peer group naturally.
There are also situations where one child becomes a subject of bullying by all peers in
the classroom, due to physical appearance or other factors such as failing, or humiliation
by a teacher. In this case the subject of bullying, undergoes an extreme mental stigma
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and trauma. In extreme cases, it may even cause the child to drop-out or harm herself/ Going to School
himself physically.
Both the cases require immediate intervention by teacher. Teacher should help the
bully and the subject of bullying in developing a rounded self-concept. There is no one
solution to the problem; each situation would vary in terms of what is causing the
problem and what may be a strategic way of dealing with the situation. It is important
to discuss the issue with parents and administrators before they become unmanageable.

2.6 CHILDREN WHO ARE OUT-OF SCHOOL

Schooling is increasingly becoming a part of the lives of larger number of children in
India. The recent implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009, has made it a
mandate for the State to ensure free and compulsory education to all children between
6 – 14 years of ages all over the country. With this implementation, a larger number of
schools are being opened, a larger number of teacher recruitment is taking place,
more teacher training provisions are being made, and more and more children are
being enrolled in the school. It is expected that all children will be at school by 2013, all
children will be at school. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is the flagship programme of the
government for ensuring this access to elementary education for all. Therefore, it is
important to understand what going to school involves and how this experience can be
made better.
Yet, there is a large number of children, around 40 lakhs, who are not yet enrolled at
school. Similarly, the number of drop-outs are very large. The experience of growing
up can be different for different children. As discussed in earlier units, there are a
number of variables in child’s context that influence both - the nature of childhood that
the child experiences as well as various aspects of child’s development i.e. child’s
physical, emotional, cognitive and social development. While many children have
reasonably positive experiences, it can well be that the romantic notion of childhood
remains a privilege of a few children. This is particularly true for a society like ours,
which is highly stratified on social and economic lines and where stark disparities and
discriminatory traditions exist with little protection from system. Before we move
further, read the following situations:
Lakhi is 10 years old, she lives in a remote village, she is enrolled in the village school
but rarely attends school as she has a lot to do at home. Lakhi’s mother goes to work
in the farms and Lakhi has to look after her younger siblings as do the chores at home.
Lakhi goes to school sometimes but is unable to follow anything that the teacher says
as she has missed school. Also Lakhi feels tired and sleepy and is unable to concentrate
on her tasks. As she is getting older her parents are now talking of getting her married
as is the custom in their community.
Abdul is 11 years old, he has four younger brothers and sisters. Abdul father is a
weaver and weaves saris, however his father is not getting enough work as the silk
thread for weaving has become very expensive and most gets sold before it comes to
the market through use of mobile phones and internet. The demand for saris has also
gone down. His parents are sending him to his uncle in the city to work in a garment
factory where children like Abdul work. Abdul has never thought of going to school
and sees no benefit in it.
Sundar is a 13 year boy who works as a coolie for customers coming to the vegetable
shops of an upscale market in Delhi. Five years ago his family migrated to the city, in
search of work, from a village in West Bengal. Sundar went to a school for admission
but he was denied admission on the basis of being over aged. With the intervention of
a shopkeeper, he got enrolled in a school as he wants to become a ‘bada admi’ someday.
Under the RTE he was sent to a special training centre for bridging the gap between
age appropriate class. However, his progress is very poor; the teacher is not at all
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hopeful about him.
Contexts of Development Zeenat is a 10 year old girl whose parents work as wage labourers in varied kinds of
jobs. Her family moves from one place to another in various seasons in search of
work. During harvesting season they are in their village in Tarai region in Bihar, where
they work as agricultural labour. They migrate to Delhi in off-season and work as
construction labour. Zeenat joins her village school whenever the family is at village,
and leaves the school whenever the family moves to city. She is unable to keep pace
at school but still is keen on being there. Even her family and teachers want her to
complete her schooling. However, none of them has any solution to the situation.

Check Your Progress

Notes: (i) Write your answers in the space given below.
(ii) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
10. From the examples given above, list 5 main problems for the four children and
explain how these are likely to affect various aspects of child’s development.
Key Problems Aspects of Development that can be affected
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

In your life as a teacher or even otherwise you must have come across a number of
children like Lakhi, Abdul, Sundar and Zeenat. These examples represent a number
of children under similar circumstances in our country. Even as our country has made
tremendous economic progress and the number of facilities have improved a large
percentage of our population still lives in situation of poverty and marginalization. In
your analysis of these cases you would have realized that the causes affecting the
children are undoubtedly related to poverty but also include a number of other variables
like gender and social discrimination or even absence of basic services. If a teacher
engages in understanding demographic profiles of children s/he might find caste, tribe,
religion and many such factors intervening in the situation. A deeper analysis would
reveal how they combine in various cases with poverty and compound the deprivation
and exclusion.

Activity V
Read the following table and find answers for the questions given below:

Table 2.1 : Dropout Rate in Delhi (2004-08)

Year All Categories of Students Scheduled Caste

Classes I-VIII Classes I-VIII
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
2007-08 0.00 0.00 0.00 37.64 32.57 35.16
2006-07 22.67 26.39 23.49 40.78 33.64 37.29
2005-06 12.54 20.22 16.34 41.98 48.91 45.77
2004-05 27.71 28.53 28.12 0.00 0.00 0.00
Source : Chugh, Sunita (2011). Drop out in Secondary Education : A Study of Children
living in slums of Delhi NUEPA (Occasional Paper 37), p.6.
1. Which elementary class has the highest drop out rate? What according to you are the
reasons?
2. Gender-wisely, which one has the highest drop out rate? What could be the reason for this?
34 3. Which category of students has the highest drop out rate? Give reasons for this.
As you have noted that the drop out rates among scheduled castes are higher than Going to School
other categories of students. As you attempted to find reasons for this occurrence you
would have realized that a number of issues affect education of girls and backward
children. Like Lakhi’s reason of early marriage there are so many reasons.

2.7 LET US SUM-UP

As teachers, it is essential to understand the context from which the students come
from, and what they need in order to make the classroom conducive to learning. Even
when children do not come to school it is important to understand their lives and
worlds. This would help the teacher in critically understanding the idea of schooling
and how it also becomes an instrument of exclusion. Many of the above cases explain
that schooling does not represent lives of many children, probably of none of the 40
lakhs who are out of school and the uncounted many lakhs. Similarly, it does not
represent the lives of children who absent from schools and drop out. There would be
an even larger number of children who are at school but hardly find meaning in what
they learn. It seems that schooling has come to resemble lives of a few who can
afford the time and opportunity cost of schooling and it institutionalizes there experiences
much more than that of others. With the recent policy shifts like RTE, and curricular
shifts like NCF 2005, it has become easier to make school better places from how
they have been in past. It is an opportune time for teachers to imagine newer kinds of
roles for themselves and conceptualize changes that they have been wanting to see in
the schools and classrooms.

2.8 UNIT-END EXERCISES

● Describe 2 cases that you have come across where you can identify a home-
school continuity or discontinuity.
● Develop a list of sociometry questions which you would ask students to understand
whom do the children perceive to be the most liked by the teacher.
● Narrate any two cases that you have come across describing experience of
children who joined school late/who dropped out of school/are out of school.

2.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Parent, teachers, teaching-learning strategy and language and dialogue between
home and school.
The interaction between children and teachers are very important. The parents
should also enquire about the school matters. Teaching in local language will
influence the child a lot. Child-centered centered strategy is also important in
classroom.
2. Like the teacher in the second case. Amina, the teacher of Neetu interacts well
with the students as well as their parents. She is well acquainted with child
psychology.
3. Write your own observations.
4. In this case the teacher has to try to understand the socio-background of Koena.
Then she has to encourage Koena to come to school instead of keeping much
expections.
5. Write your own views.
6. Write your own responses.
7. The teacher has to understand the social context and profile of Koena. Then she
has to plan learning in a way that helps Koena in adjusting to the school. 35
Contexts of Development 8. Gender, caste and class are visible during mid-day meals, seating arrangements
and in playing.
9. Write your own observations.

10. Key Problems Aspects of Development that can be affected

Irregularity Cognitive and Social Development
Child labour Cognitive, Social & Affective Development
Over-age Cognitive and Social Development
Migration Cognitive and Social Development
Drop Out Cognitive Development

2.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

● Kumar, Krishna (1996). Learning from Conflict. New Delhi : Orient Longman.
● Laosa, L.M. (1982). “School Occupation, Culture and Family : The Impact of
Parental Schooling on the Parent-Child Relationship”. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 74, 791-827.
● National Curriculum Framework. (2005). National Council of Educational
Research and Training. New Delhi : N.C.E.R.T.
● Woolfolk, Anita. (2004). Educational Psychology. Delhi: Pearsons Prentice
Hall.

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