Education, alienation and marginalisation: Neoliberalism and the politics of exclusion

This study draws on critical perspectives on power and politics to demonstrate how exclusion is structurally embedded within educational systems. Although, the claim that education produces marginalisation may initially appear rhetorical. While education is often presented as a tool for empowerment, knowledge production and social mobility, it can also marginalise communities by pushing them out through official knowledge structures and tokenistic inclusion. Using the critical theory of education, the study questions the dominant forms of knowledge that are designed in a way to serve the interests of elites and corporate actors. Often, the frameworks exclude tribal communities from policymaking, neglect their knowledge systems, and detach them from their sustainable ways of living. Drawing on ethnographic methods, this study engages closely with tribal community members in Ladakh (India) through long-term interaction and participation for 14 months. It reveals how education contributes to social exclusion and how market forces aligned with neoliberal agendas that shape the educational experiences of tribal communities.