Negotiating Disadvantage

Learning Trajectories in an Indian State Government School

Abstract

Existing research on educational inequality in India has focused on differences in learning outcomes, school resources, and students’ socio-economic backgrounds, while less attention is paid to how students negotiate the everyday organisational and pedagogical realities of schooling. Drawing on data collected from qualitative fieldwork in a state government school in Uttarakhand, India, this paper examines how Grade 9 students from disadvantaged backgrounds experience and respond to the institutional environment. The analysis is based on classroom observations and in-depth interviews with 13 students. The findings identify three distinct learning trajectories through which students negotiate educational disadvantage: negotiating disadvantage through educational support, negotiating disadvantage through pragmatic aspirations, and negotiating disadvantage through strategic silence. These trajectories are shaped by the educational resources available within families, parents’ occupations and livelihood conditions, and broader gender norms. The paper argues for reconceptualising educational inequality by recognising that students actively negotiate disadvantage in different ways. The findings highlight the importance of creating school environments that recognise students’ diverse realities and support meaningful classroom participation.