Equal Opportunity in Education: A Perspective from Below

The aim of this article is to contextualize the meaning of equal educational opportunities and its distributional pattern in Indian society from the perspective of justice. This article also attempts to answer the following questions: (a) The meaning of equal opportunities in education: for whom is the education intended? and (b) What is the pattern of educational distribution and inequalities in educational opportunities? Finally, the article also elaborates on the relationship between state, society and education; how the state favours certain ideologies which perpetuate the denial of education and create problematic situation for low-caste students in their access to educational institutions