Poverty as a barrier to learning

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A barrier to learning is anything that stands in the way of a child being able to learn effectively (R2ECWD) (n.d.).

Considering India, I am taking poverty as a barrier. 

Three of the keyways in which poverty acts as a barrier to accessing and completing a full course of quality primary education are: 

  • Education Costs, 
  • Child Labor and 
  • Economic Migration. (Poverty, 2013). 

I am focusing on ‘Education Costs’ as a subset of Migration.

In India, there is a big gap between the rich and the poor and hence a big difference between the opportunities available to all (Poor and Rich Gap in India, n.d.). To combat this, national policies have changed.  RTE act (Right to Education, n.d.) and inclusion of students from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), (Bureau, 2019), into schools contribute to students coming to the schools. However corresponding teacher pedagogy and classroom support has not been brought in. Hence the barrier remains.

The students from EWS come with skills much lower than their counterparts from the other sections of society due to lack of opportunities. Hence the gap is too big between them and others. They also suffer from the threat of “negative stereotype about a group to which one belongs” (Steele, 1997, June). The support required for the teachers to adequately differentiate “content, process and product” (Teachings in Education, 2017) is not available.

Add to that the school policy “…that to sustain school success one must be identified with school achievement in the sense of its being a part of one's self-definition…” (Steele, 1997) limits the definition of achievement to a limited few who, by virtue of having resources, score higher in all domains leading to further barriers.

 

A redefinition of achievement and differentiated curriculum are the solutions.

 

References:

1.      Bureau, O. (2019, January 07). Quota for EWS in general category. Retrieved from https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/cabinet-approves-10-quota-for-ews-in-general-category/article25931445.ece

2.      Casper H. (2009). Stereotype threat: Social psychology in action. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGEUVM6QuMg  (3:07)

3.      Poor and Rich Gap in India. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Essay/rich-poor-gap.html

4.      Poverty. (2013). Retrieved from https://educateachild.org/explore/barriers-to-education/poverty

5.      Right to Educate Children with Disabilities (R2ECWD) (n.d.).Systematic barriers to inclusive education: Factsheet 6. Retrieved fromhttp://www.included.org.za/R2ecwdsite/docs/Factsheet%206.pdf

6.      Right to Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://mhrd.gov.in/rte

7.      Steele, C. M. (1997, June). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. Retrieved from http://users.nber.org/~sewp/events/2005.01.14/Bios+Links/Krieger-rec5-Steele_Threat-in-the-Air.pdf

8.      Teachings in Education. (2017). Differentiated instruction: Why, how, and examples. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVvImZcnkw (5:30)

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