LA1710:Poverty and Inequality

2.1 With reference to Aniruth Krishna's paper Examining the structure

of Opportunity and Social Mobility in India:Who Becomes an
Engineer?,I am going to discuss on following given questions.

a)What are the key barriers in accessing engineering eduction in india?

The answer of this question is not staright forward and need a deep
discussion .when we are talking about engineering education then the
quality of engineering education is not same everywhere.There are
different levels of colleges in India in terms of quality of education ,in
terms of good professor ,in terms of company approaching to colleges
and placement scenerio,in terms of infrastructure etc.so it becomes
also very important to discuss in which college students are taking
admission .As to access in top colleges ,students also need top class of
higher education and resources.So some underprivileged students have
succeeded to take admission in engineering college but number of
these students in top colleges is very low .So they can not be easily
compared with others students who have rich family background.As
after completing degree, the chance of getting job in IT sector is very
low for underprivileged students and so they are not able to change
inter-generational mobility a lot as compared to those rich family
background .College like IIT and NIT will need proper coaching as
entrance exams today have become very competitive and without
coaching one finds it hard to get into such institutions. Getting into
these coaching institutes is also difficult because of one's financial
constraint and poor infrastructure and no knowledge. Students of urban
area know more about these classes . There are
many situations and conditions need to discuss in respect of quality of
education in colleges , family background ,caste ,locality ,motivation
level,counsellor availability,guidance to career,parents education,societ
myth .So these are the broad topics need to discuss in details in order
to understand given question.So i am going to discuss each topic as per
Krishna's paper and will see their effect on engineering education
access.

As per Krishna's paper engineering college can be categorised in four

tiers.These engineering colleges range from one of the best in India
(Tier 1) to one belonging to the lowest quality level, Tier 4. Almost all
the faculty teaching at the Tier 1 institution have PhD degrees,most
from highly-ranked institutes in India and abroad. Less than 50 percent
of Tier 2 faculty, less than 25 per cent of Tier 3 faculty, and only a
handful in Tier 4 institutions have PhDs.

THE RURAL–URBAN DIVIDE as a barrier

In examination of software engineers in Bangalore,

Upadhya(2007)found that only 5 per cent were born in rural areas. A
separate survey of the software industry, undertaken in Delhi and
Bangalore, found an even lowershare (4.2 per cent) of rural-born
Indians .By this research and data given in krishna's paper .It is clear
that rural students participation in top college and top job like IT sector
is very .But saying individual as rural or urban is very difficult because
the rural students who have taken admission in engineering college had
left village in earlier age and went city for higher education.There is thus
a whole range of ‘rural-ness’. so we also have to measure the degree of
Rural-ness. There are three separate characteristics, associated with
different degrees of rural-ness. first the nature of schools— rural or
urban — that an individual attended at four separate stages of his or
her education (primary, middle, high school and higher secondary or
pre-university). second, their place of residence while growing up (rural
village, tahsil/taluka headquarter, district capital, state capital and
metro city).third and Finally, the occupations and the current place of
residence of their parents.

I have shown table below for better interpretation .

Table 1. Proportion of Students who Attended Rural Schools

(percentage of students in each institution)Rural School (per cent
Institution

Tier Classes I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII/PUC

A Tier 1 13.5 15.0 10.8 8.6

B Tier 2 16.9 15.3 12.9 5.7

C Tier 2 22.8 21.1 20.2 18.4

D Tier 3 11.2 11.2 6.5 5.6

E Tier 3 33.7 32.1 29.5 21.2

F Tier 4 28.6 25.0 22.5 10.2

by looking at table we can easily judge that as students suppose to get

education in rural areas ,students will suppose to get admission in lower
college.Only few Tier 1 students have studied in rural areas as
compared to Tier4 concluding that rural areas education might be a
barrier to take admission in top engineering colleges or simpy in any
college.As much students will be exposed to urban education ,that
much change will be there in getting admission to top colleges.
By looking(table not shown here)Table 2. Degrees of ‘Rural-ness’
(percentage of students in each institution) in Krishna's paper,when we
are adding more factor of rural-ness like students studied in rural areas
always and parents is agriculturist then chance of student to get in
engineering college become drastically low.Studying in rural schools and
living in rural areas impose limitations upon individuals’ prospects for
upward mobility. The more rural one is, the lower one’s chances are of
getting into any engineering college, even the lowest-ranked one, with
most rural individuals facing prospects close to nil.
Rural origins impose handicaps because of lack of poor schooling ,good
opportunities to excel aren’t made available to them, limited contacts
and connections of student’s parents and relatives,lack of inspiration
due to absence of role models ,unclear and unachievable aim.Poorer-
quality education in rural areas combined with lack of informa-tion
resources (including role models, career-advice providers, guides and
mentors) holds back many capable and hardworking individuals. Those
few rural individuals who have nevertheless secured admission to
engineering colleges have almost invariably benefited from the
intervention of a chance outsider — a cousin, an uncle, family friend,
etc. So, growing up in rural areas thus imposes cumulative
disadvantages: low-quality education and a dearth of career
information.

LEARNING IN ENGLISH as a barrier

The evidence examined shows that it is all but impossible to gain entry
into engineering college without having studied English as a first
language and medium of instruction, or at the very least, having studied
English as a second language.
we can observe by looking into (table not shown here) Table 3.
Percentage who Studied in English-medium Schools at Different Stages
(percentage of students in each institution) that at every stage of school
education, a greater proportion of students in higher-ranked colleges
have studied at English-medium schools. Studying at an English-medium
school not only improves one’s chances of getting into engineering
college; it also has a bearing upon the Tier of college to which one is
admitted.For those who did not study in an English-medium school, but
are admitted to an engineering college, it is likely to be a low-ranked
institution. Growing up in rural areas thus imposes cumulative
disadvantages: low-quality education and a dearth of career
information are accompanied by a much lower penetration of the
English language. An important component in improving the quality of
education in rural schools relates to the teaching of English.

RELATIVE DEPRIVATION as a barrier

Differences in wealth matter, particularly in developing countries, such

as India, that have unequally distributed educational resources.

Table 4. Degrees of Deprivation (percentage of students in each

institution) shows that individuals from poorer households — those
possessing four or fewer assets — have been making it into engineering
colleges, albeit in small numbers; but a stricter defi-nition of relative
deprivation (two or fewer assets), and especially, combined effects of
small asset holdings and government school attendance (or small asset
holding and Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe), the numbers fall
precipitously, and are zero in many cases.
If one is poor and rural, then one’s chances of becoming an engineers
are dismal.Being rural and poor impose disabilities in practice.
CASTE AND GENDER as a barrier

Caste is important in the Indian context. In particular Scheduled Castes

and Scheduled Tribes are historically deprived groups, whose represen-
tation in institutions of higher learning has remained low despite
affirmative action. In addition, the gender
divide remains large among the general population. In 2004, more than
twice as many men as women in India (3.4 per cent compared to 1.4
per cent) had postgraduate or professional degrees.Multiple liabilities
— poor and rural, poor and SC/ST— raise the barrier cumulatively,
making it virtually impossible for individuals to move ahead.

PARENTS’ OCCUPATION AND EDUCATION: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION

More parents of Tier1 students have high income service then Tier4 as
per krishna's table 7 and 8. Students whose parents do not have a high
income service ,do not suppose to take admission in engineering
college as wealth matters in education .However, agriculturist fathers
are also represented. But the pro-portion of agriculturist fathers varies
randomly across different tiers and lower in Tier1.
These different demographics become further identified when looking
at the figure for parents’ (particularly mothers’) educational
achievements. Students in higher-ranked colleges have more highly
educated mothers,while the mothers of students in lower-ranked
institutions are less educated.Parents education matter.Uneducated
parents can not able to provide a good environment for education and
appears as a barrier . Families where the parents are less
educated lack the environment necessary to prepare for competitive
exams, and people are also not aware of the opportunities that exist
outside.Such a family may not have enough faith that so many years of
additional education, beyond schooling, would result in some additional
benefit or improvement in quality of life. Such students also suffer lack
of pre-established network of friends or relatives and lack of proper
information regarding the methods and means of becoming successful.
Family types, composed of middle-class and professional fathers and
mothers, transmit the cultural capital — habits,dispositions and social
skills — which more easily enable their children to get ahead. More-
educated mothers provide their children with more nurturing and
supportive environments than do less-educated women. Educated
parents (and their networks of educated colleagues and friends) serve
as a principal source of career information and advice . Those who have
more educated parents are, therefore, advantaged in multiple aspects
then less-educated parents.