Costs, Security and Discipline: Gendering the Debate on School Choice in India

There is growing evidence of expansion of public and private schools in India. The notional increase in parental choice of schools which is presumed to accompany the expansion has received mixed responses in academic and development research. While some have celebrated the increase in options available to parents, others have critiqued the framing of the issue and highlighted the structural inequalities which continue to influence educational access in India. However, both these kinds of research have been found deficient in their attention to the gender discourses which shape educational decisions in family settings in India. The present article argues for a gender sensitive understanding of the issue by locating school choice in the multi-lingual and multi-religious context of rural Assam. A close analysis of interviews with students, family members and teachers suggest that educational choices exercised in these working class families are connected with issues of marriage, work and gendered norms of conduct. Apart from considerations of costs, gendered ideas of school proximity, security and discipline are of prime significance in their choice of high school for children and particularly for daughters.