Residential Education for Disadvantaged Girls: An Alternate Field?

Abstract

In this article, we engage with the experiences of students in a government-run residential secondary school that enrols girls primarily from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Through an exploration of the history of the programme, secondary evaluations conducted over the years and a month-long engagement with one such residential school, we probe how the categories of disadvantage—caste and gender— continue to operate, even as the state tries to obliterate them in this space. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theorization of ‘practices’, we describe daily informal interactions in the space, highlighting their role in reinforcing and sometimes challenging extant social differences. Drawing attention to the diversity that lies even within the formal category of ‘disadvantaged’, we describe the potential and the limitations of targeted residential schooling. Our work points to the need for greater sensitivity in the planning and implementation of state-run programmes targeted at the most marginalized and a re-imagination of efforts to offer an ‘alternate field’.

Language, gender and sexuality in 2021

“…In line with this critique, Garg (2021) draws attention to marginalised groups in India by shedding light on the use of mobile phones by rural illiterate women who blur the boundaries of age, place of residence, gender and literacy levels. By the same token, Rajendra and Sarin (2021) analyse intersections between caste and gender in government-run educational programmes for disadvantaged girls. Hall (2021), focusing on the 'Hinglish' of queer middle-class youth in Delhi, reminds us of the importance of considering class relations as powerful elements in the demarcation of social boundaries.…”