ABSTRACT

The values which underpin the practice of inclusive education for diverse individuals and groups are changing – a reflection of diverse social forces – and the naïve Marxist model implied in the quotation above needs to be amended, or developed. The global economy calls for a more educated workforce, but these demands require an education system that is subordinated to the needs of international capitalism. This is strangely reminiscent of the Acts of Parliament in nineteenth-century Britain which provided universal primary education on the ironic premise that ‘we must educate our masters’; the newly emancipated voters had to be educated to a minimal standard (Brock, 1978). Today, it is pressures of globalization which have persuaded the Indian economy to finally introduce a policy of Education for All, see Chapters 3 and 10 (Jha) and 11 (Srivastava) in this volume. Even then Dalits, children of the ‘untouchable’ caste, seem unlikely to gain educationally in ways which could lead to occupational advancement (see Bagley, Chapter 13, in this volume). Marx had characterized the underclass as ‘a reserve army of labour’ to be called on in times of economic expansion. Unfortunately, this Marxian model does not fit modern-day India, in which Dalits’ caste status relegates them to that comparable with African Americans 150 years ago. Ironically, an educated elite of Dalits is emerging, facing both permanent unemployment and greater degrees of relative deprivation than their landless labourer parents (Jeffrey et al., 2004).