Parental Education as a Criterion for Affirmative Action in Higher Education: A Preliminary Analysis

Affirmative action, especially in the form of reservation policies, to address the issues of inclusion and equity has been in place in India for a long time. Through these policies higher participation of the marginalized groups is sought in the political, educational and work related domains. Over the years the scope and coverage of these reservation policies has been enlarged through the inclusion of new social groups and by incorporating new ‘spaces’ hitherto not available to certain social groups. The available evidence suggests that that the policies of reservation have not been an unqualified success. Besides, policies that were perceived as temporary have not only persisted but grown. Apart from uneven participation of marginalized groups in the three domains, recent studies have highlighted three developments that suggest a rethink on affirmative action (read reservation) policies in India: (1) The social hierarchy and conditions which formed the basis of affirmative action are undergoing a change in India; (2) Several issues have come up in the implementation of the reservation policies; and (3) Recent empirical studies have identified more robust measures of participation in higher education by different social groups and have provided some new insights on the determinants of differentials in such participation. Given this broad context, the paper explores if criteria other than caste and community can be used to form the basis for affirmative action. More specifically, we explore if parental education is an appropriate criterion for this purpose.