Abstract-3 (April 2020) Rakshinder Kaur

Pedagogy of Learning, Vol. 6 (2) April 2020, 22-33

Exploring the Inter-linkages between Schooling Background of the Students and their Higher Education Participation

DOI: 10.46704/pol.2020.v06i02.003

Rakshinder Kaur, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Punjabi University Regional Centre, Bathinda, Punjab (India)-151001. E-mail: rakshinderedu@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

            Socio-economic background of the students is regarded as a major determinant of their higher education participation. The most common measures of socio-economic status of students include their gender, social category, religion, schooling background, parental education, parental occupation, family income etc. In India, with a stratified school system, vast differences are found between educational institutions that serve upper and lower sections of the society. This paper aims at finding out that how far the students studying in different higher education institutions i.e. general and professional institutions in the Indian state of Punjab differ in their schooling background and how far the schooling background of students studying in different higher education institutions differs with regard to their gender, locale and social category. The information regarding the schooling background of students was collected with the help of a self-prepared semi-structured Socio-Economic Background Questionnaire. The findings indicate that the schooling background of the students is a significant factor in higher education participation of students coming from different locations and belonging to different social categories. Therefore, there is an urgent need to intervene in improving the quality of school education so that an education of equitable quality should be available to all the children irrespective of gender, caste, class, location etc.

Keywords: Socio-economic background, schooling background, higher education participation.