Deterioration of Democracy through Privatization of Education in India

India exists as a prime example of this phenomenon. Where a recent study found that the top 1% of the population owns 40% of national wealth, this is a debilitating condition where such consolidation of wealth did not exist even in the 1980s, and far surpasses the colonial standard. As gig economies thrive in the country, where marginal workers hustle for bare sustenance. The convenience of the ultra-rich, symbolically, their rights matter more than a gig worker who faces risk of accidents and lack of insurance for a 10-minute delivery. Essentially, capitalism as a system feeds upon this because it always needs labour to be cheap in order to gain profits, which further go into the hands of the few. Adding the caste nuance to the fray, this further poses a horrible picture of exploitation. Where the Dalit and tribal communities are already predisposed to poverty. Rather than educating the masses about the existence of this historical exploitation, the curriculum remains silent on this struggle and its connection with the present. Thus, it becomes a breeding ground of youth disbelieving the present covert habits of caste assertion within their own culture and behaviour. This further adds to the vicious cycle of invisibilization of casteism, where the disbelief in the lack of gaps in the system and lack of questioning their socialization to it, where we turn a blind eye to our own casteist practices. In a country where subsidised education and employment opportunities with social mobility remain scarce even for the general population, people gaining these opportunities due to reservation face further stigmatization and isolation. As a result, the outcry against this system remains non-existent, since the general population is rather busy pressurizing their own children for their lack of “merit” or occupied with communal politics.

All while the government is busy consolidating wealth or chasing investment in lieu of increasing the size of their economies, without moving towards actual change or development for the masses. While the masses forget to question the deliberate intention of the system to remain the same. There is widespread criticism of Trump's policies and their deliberate attempts toward propaganda and obvious conservative (synonymously exploitative) intent. The same deconstruction of the government policies within India fails to be a part of the wider discourse.​

The recent shutdown of the US Department of Education by the Trump administration poses stark implications for child labour, child trafficking, and teenage pregnancies. It is clearly documented how losing access to education leads parents to perceive children as economic tools rather than students. This has dire consequences on their social mobility, since they also lose access to sex education, which is proven to be more effective than abstinence programs in reducing teenage pregnancy and parenthood. This then becomes a vicious cycle, where the disparity in the country increases.

PHOTO COURTESY: Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash