HKS Authors

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Abstract

Education is often cited as a way of “levelling the playing field” for children from disadvantaged minority groups, opening up both social and economic opportunities. However, this role of education is predicated, in part, on the notion that disadvantaged minorities have access to the same educational opportunities as non-minority students. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Schools in low-income neighbourhoods often lack resources and high-quality teachers. Discrimination in the classroom can further reduce the quality of the education that children from disadvantaged backgrounds receive. In recent research (Hanna and Linden 2009), we try to provide a mechanism for determining whether discrimination exists in the classroom. In a medium-sized city in India, we recruited about 70 children to participate in an exam tournament.

Citation

Hanna, Rema, and Leigh Linden. "Do Teachers Discriminate Against Minorities in India?" Vox.org, September 1, 2009.