The Privatisation of Higher Education and the Marginalised Classes in India: Issues and Challenges Maruthi O.1, Dr. Prabha J. Rani Ratna2 1Ph. D. Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India 2Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India Online published on 2 September, 2019. Abstract Education is the only key which plays a crucial role in transforming a society into a knowledge society. The role of higher education is even more essential as it directly contributes to the growth and sustenance of a knowledge society. Despite serious handicaps of means and resources, during the last sixty years, a very large system of education has created a vast body of men and women equipped with a high order of scientific and technological capabilities, robust humanist and philosophical thought and creativity. During the last decade, education was given a more important status by the state as well as private players. There was an increased participation of the private sector in the field of higher education. Though India is the largest provider of global talent, a source for aspiring learners and also a role model for the high-quality affordable education system, it remains as a developing country for many years. On the other side, Indian society is highly stratified on the basis of caste, class, gender, and race. The marginalised sections like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are deprived of education and its amenities for decades, though there was a slight difference in the educational status of these group currently, these marginalised groups are being expelled from enjoying the fruit of positive impact and also bear the disproportionate burden of adverse effect of Privatisation of education in general and higher education in particular. In this regard, this paper is to demonstrate the positive and negative implications of the privatization of higher education on the marginalized classes, especially the Scheduled Classes in India. Top Keywords Higher Education Privatisation Marginalised Classes. Top |