Abstract : Numerous studies have been pointed out the importance of teachers in improving the quality of education, particularly those who are having lower cultural contingency and lower conducive environment back home. In India, the thrust for universalization of primary education started during 1990s with different schools for different strata of children; non- formal schools with management of schools at local level was one of them. For that Para teachers emerged as remedy of teacher absenteeism, high teacher pupil ratios, and highly politicized teachers union and easily available to engage that activities without being properly trained. Under this background, this paper try to analyse issues and challenge posed by Para teachers in elementary school with use of some of micro level studies by different scholars and emerging statistical studies conducted by NUEPA.As evidences suggest that the functioning (engagement of teacher-learner) of schools, where Para teacher are posted, have not been improved substantially in public primary schools, although it has certainly decreased teacher absenteeism and lower the teacher pupil ratios. Underlying this discussion, this paper argues that the mass education has been unable to challenge the elite education in India. Hence, the differences between masses and elite education has been widened and intensified in the era of universalized education by using reproduction theory of Bourdieu’s cultural capital in general and Naik’s distinction between masses-elite institution particularly in India which states that education is site of class differentiation and reproduction of distinction between masses and elite.
Keywords : Mass Education, Para teachers, Teacher-Learner Activates, Cultural Capital
Cite : Anand, K., Kausar, K., & Pachauri, I. (2024). Para Teachers In Indian Elementary Schools: An In-Depth Analysis Of Issues, Challenges, And Impact On Mass Education (1st ed., pp. 48-64). Noble Science Press. https://doi.org/10.52458/9788196897451.nsp.2024.eb.ch-07
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