ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how and to what extent schooling has functioned to reproduce and consolidate caste, class and gender inequalities in India. With this objective in view, it weaves together evidences on the varied dimensions of inequality in educational access, performance and outcome, and attempts to build as coherent a picture of educational inequality as possible. The chapter examines the school itself as a significant source of inequality. The initial years of post-independent ‘development’ resulted in burgeoning employment opportunities in the ‘modern’, particularly the public sector. Apart from the technical positions in the industrial sphere there occurred a vast expansion of white collar and professional opportunities. The elite schools, public schools, central schools and the high quality aided schools function as a channel through which entry is assured to the best colleges and prestigious courses and thereon to the top levels in the occupational structure. Children entering public schools seek careers in business and the professions, especially engineering.
