Access to Meaningful Learning: Exploring School Processes as Seen Through the Eyes of Children

In India, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) mandates that all private unaided schools must reserve 25% of their seats for free for socially and economically disadvantaged children. The RTE Act is intended to foster the inclusion of all children regardless of their socio-economic background. This study highlights children's accounts of their lived schooling experience at the private schools they accessed in Delhi. The data was collected using participatory methods, more specifically, from 'draw-and-talk' sessions with 16 children from marginalized backgrounds who accessed six different private schools, half of whom obtained a free private school seat (a 'freeship'). Children widely reported that teachers labelled their students and classmates labelled their peers as being 'naughty' and/or academically 'weak' or 'incapable', raising concerns over their socialization processes. These 'designated identities' were internalized by the participants and affected how they interacted with their peers. Student-teacher relationships were widely reported to be influenced by the teachers' aggressive and authoritative nature which often led to corporal punishment. The findings suggest that while the students may become accustomed to corporal punishment, it also provoked feelings of resistance and resentment. While these findings may not be surprising, three unexpected insights emerged: a) children entering private schools on a freeship shared accounts of their schooling experience that were comparatively similar to those who entered on a fee-paying basis, b) the children did not attribute caste or gender explicitly marking their schooling experience, and c) the process of having children participate in the drawing activities was more valuable than the drawing outcomes themselves. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the ability of the RTE Act and the potential promise of private schools to meet social justice objectives of equity and inclusion have not been fully met, even with the universalizing context of the legislation.