From Barriers to Bridges: The Role of Community-Based Preparatory Institutions as Pathways to Higher Education

Abstract

Educational participation is shaped by social factors, impacting access and mobility (Chanana,1993; Filmer et al., 1998; Hasan & Mehta, 2006). Multiple interventions have addressed this, including enabling easier access and providing added support within institutions, among others. This paper particularly looks at how identity and community-based preparatory institutions support higher education access for marginalised students along class and caste lines. Preparatory institutions broadly have been overlooked (Bray, 1999; Stevenson & Baker, 1992) despite being part of India’s higher education sector, and further they can also worsen social inequalities by serving only those who can afford them (Majumdar, 2014). However, some of these institutions have enabled access for students with fewer resources and from marginalised groups, by leveraging their community and identity ties. The study aims to examine how such select preparatory spaces shape its students’ experiences, and everyday emergent practices, and how such practice intersects with identity negotiations. In our paper, we will highlight some interesting patterns that emerged and the preliminary insights we are working with. They include 1) The interplay of formality and informality within preparatory centres. 2) How stakeholders' everyday practice shapes their understanding of margins and marginalities. 3) And how the thread paying back to society underlies all strategic intent and emergent practices. These emerging patterns lead us to think about preparatory spaces as an integral part of the learning trajectories of marginalised students - not only supporting the understanding of subject areas but also supporting the intangible parts of educational trajectories like the sense of belonging, campus climate and the claim to spaces.



Author Information
Priya Singh, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India
Vikas John, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India

Paper Information
Conference: BCE2024
Stream: Higher education

This paper is part of the BCE2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Singh P., & John V. (2025) From Barriers to Bridges: The Role of Community-Based Preparatory Institutions as Pathways to Higher Education ISSN: 2435-9467 – The Barcelona Conference on Education 2024: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 955-966) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2435-9467.2024.81
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2435-9467.2024.81


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon