Dalit Children Dropout in Schools: Need for Inclusive Curriculum

Dalit children are generally marginal with respect to students of other categories, and their dropout rate is an alarming situation in India. Scholars, social scientists and educationists have tried to understand the reasons of student disengagement from the school system and have revealed various causes and given many varied suggestions that are related to a child’s family background and socio-cultural background. Although several attempts have been made to understand the reasons for dropout, still it is not explored well. Also, cultural politics for dropout of particular group is not yet explored at the micro and macro levels. In this article, we try to understand how school, through its structures and ideology including textbook culture, influences student’s decisions to stay out. This study also considers traditional explanations for understanding the socio-background behaviours of the children for dropout. At the same time, we try to understand the role of school in Dalit children dropout.