essay on underprivileged section of society

The term ‘underprivileged’ is an unfortunate reality of our society: Geetanjali Chopra

Dr Chopra discusses how her journey has helped her to understand and feel the pain and despair of the marginalised and underprivileged section of society.

Akshita Singh | New Delhi | April 24, 2022 9:52 am

(Photo: SNS)

Dr Geetanjali Chopra is an academician, researcher, columnist, and philanthropist with over a decade of experience in research and academics. Geetanjali left her prestigious job at the Centre for Policy Research to work for the welfare of the underprivileged, destitute and marginalized communities.

Q 1: Please tell us about your journey with Wishes and Blessings NGO.

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The decision to set up Wishes and Blessings is a registered NGO in April 2014 was a decision straight from the heart. Being a doctorate and having a decade long experience in research and academia, I was a fellow at the Centre For Policy Research, New Delhi when I decided to take a leap of faith. Without having any prior experience and knowledge in the field of social service or what it entails, the decision to follow my heart came with the cost of leaving a well-established career and some raised eyebrows from my dear ones.

When I first started I had no idea where it would lead or what the next stage would hold. The idea was simply to spread smiles and help fulfil the wishes of those who were unable to achieve them themselves. I started working with visually impaired children, and gradually expanded my work to include orphanages, old age homes, shelters for the homeless, education centres and food programmes for the hungry. The objective is to help anyone and everyone in need of aid without discrimination on the basis of caste, age, gender or community.

Throughout the span of 8 years, there has been a fair share of challenges and obstacles with several ups and downs. But today, Wishes and Blessings is a well-established organisation with an active presence in 5 states across the country that has touched the lives of over 10,00,000 underprivileged people. Donors and beneficiaries from all walks of life have joined the family and there is nothing that gives me more pleasure than to see the kind of work that is being carried out through the organisation.

Looking back, my journey has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. But through it all, I am happy to say that the experience so far has been immensely fulfilling, to say the least. I would not have it any other way and it is with a deep sense of satisfaction I can say that I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

Q: How do you see the term ‘underprivileged’? In these years of experience did ever a moment come when you felt that this is what reality is, this is how deep the term ‘underprivileged’ is in itself, please share that moment with us?

The term ‘underprivileged’ is an unfortunate reality of our society. Many of us try not to look towards it or remain nonchalant about it, but the reality is that it does haunt us- to live in a society with so much disparity. Coming from a philanthropic family which has always incorporated values of charity and giving, from a very young age I was exposed to what lesser privileged children went through. Over the years, I have realized that the gap between the rich and the lesser privileged is humongous. It is much more rampant and much deeper than what is actually portrayed. As an NGO, we do try to bridge this gap that exists on a daily basis.

A moment that stands out dates back to the winter of 2014 in December, during the Winter Relief Drive undertaken by a few volunteers and myself. On one of those ventures, I came across a young 5/6 years old girl who was sleeping with a tear-smeared face, hair scattered, clinging with her dear life on to a fragment of roti. I couldn’t help but wonder what got her in that situation. I wondered if she had fought for it… maybe somebody snatched her roti and maybe that was why she cried. That image spoke volumes of what it means to be underprivileged in our society.

This moment has played a very important role in my life as it led me to redefine the mission for the organisation. Now the NGO envisions building a world with equal opportunities where the word ‘underprivileged’ no longer exists. This was also the basis of launching our pilot project called the Daily Meals Programme which works to ensure that the poor and underprivileged do not go to bed on an empty stomach. Under this programme, with the help of our donors, we provide 3 hot and nutritious meals daily and distribute ration kits to those in need across the country.

Q: As you have considerable expertise in the NGO field, would you like to share one of your on-field experiences that remained memorable for you for years.

My journey as a social activist is full of memorable incidents which often light up my heart. It is very difficult for me to pinpoint one particular incident but if I were to choose, there is one that stands out for me.

This incident dates back to the initial days when I first started in 2015. There was a young street child called Ashna who must have been around 6/7 years of age. She was one of the beneficiaries of our ‘Street To School Programme” which was set up for street children who are given access to basic education and then enrolled in schools. This child developed a keen liking for me and I had grown particularly fond of her as well. She would follow me everywhere whenever she had the chance. In one particular instance, it so happened that I found out that some of the children we adopted had resorted to begging. It upset me and as I was trying to explain to them the benefits of education and why they should refrain from such activities, the children burst out in sudden giggles pointing toward my back. When I turned around, I saw little Ashna mimicking my demeanour and was standing in the exact way I stood with my hands on my waist as I delivered my sermon. I asked her what exactly she thought she was doing to which she softly answered, “ Mein aap banna chahti hu”(I want to become like you). She said, “If I do what you’re doing, I will also become like you.”

This incident has left a very deep mark on me and every time I falter, this incident reminds me that I am a role model for so many; people who I could not even imagine looking up to me started seeing me as an example. It gives me inspiration and is definitely one of the most memorable moments for me.

Q: How do you assess the government policies and schemes for the underprivileged people, what according to you have been the flaws that couldn’t make these policies and schemes reach those who need them.

The Government of India has initiated numerous schemes and policies for underprivileged people. However, in a country of 1.3 billion diverse people, many of whom are below the poverty line, it is a challenge for the government to provide assistance and relief to everyone. I believe the challenge is not simply that of a fiscal constraint of how much to transfer but rather of whom to transfer it to. The problem is that the programmes initiated for the poor seldom reach them because of the intermediaries between the government and the underprivileged. Despite the government’s best efforts in mitigating the effects of poverty, access to opportunities has missed the most vulnerable demographics. There should be a mechanism for a stable database to determine where the most vulnerable communities lie. Also, there is a need to spread awareness amongst the underprivileged to make them know of their existing privileges.

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One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All

Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at George Warren Brown School of Social Work

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Despite its enormous wealth, the United States leads the industrialized world in poverty. One Nation, Underprivileged unravels this disturbing paradox by offering a different understanding of American poverty. It debunks many of Americans' most common myths about the poor, while at the same time providing a new framework for addressing this enormous social and economic problem. The author shows that the fundamental causes of poverty are to be found in America's economic structure and political policy failures, rather than individual shortcomings or attitudes. He establishes for the first time that a significant percentage of Americans will experience poverty during their adult lifetimes, and firmly demonstrates that poverty is an issue of vital national concern. Ultimately, the author provides the reader with a new paradigm for understanding poverty, and outlines a set of strategies that will reduce the phenomenon in America. One Nation, Underprivileged represents a starting point for rekindling a national focus upon America's most vexing social and economic problem.

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Poverty Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on poverty essay.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence”. – Mahatma Gandhi.

How Poverty is Measured?

For measuring poverty United nations have devised two measures of poverty – Absolute & relative poverty.  Absolute poverty is used to measure poverty in developing countries like India. Relative poverty is used to measure poverty in developed countries like the USA. In absolute poverty, a line based on the minimum level of income has been created & is called a poverty line.  If per day income of a family is below this level, then it is poor or below the poverty line. If per day income of a family is above this level, then it is non-poor or above the poverty line. In India, the new poverty line is  Rs 32 in rural areas and Rs 47 in urban areas.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Causes of Poverty

According to the Noble prize winner South African leader, Nelson Mandela – “Poverty is not natural, it is manmade”. The above statement is true as the causes of poverty are generally man-made. There are various causes of poverty but the most important is population. Rising population is putting the burden on the resources & budget of countries. Governments are finding difficult to provide food, shelter & employment to the rising population.

The other causes are- lack of education, war, natural disaster, lack of employment, lack of infrastructure, political instability, etc. For instance- lack of employment opportunities makes a person jobless & he is not able to earn enough to fulfill the basic necessities of his family & becomes poor. Lack of education compels a person for less paying jobs & it makes him poorer. Lack of infrastructure means there are no industries, banks, etc. in a country resulting in lack of employment opportunities. Natural disasters like flood, earthquake also contribute to poverty.

In some countries, especially African countries like Somalia, a long period of civil war has made poverty widespread. This is because all the resources & money is being spent in war instead of public welfare. Countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. are prone to natural disasters like cyclone, etc. These disasters occur every year causing poverty to rise.

Ill Effects of Poverty

Poverty affects the life of a poor family. A poor person is not able to take proper food & nutrition &his capacity to work reduces. Reduced capacity to work further reduces his income, making him poorer. Children from poor family never get proper schooling & proper nutrition. They have to work to support their family & this destroys their childhood. Some of them may also involve in crimes like theft, murder, robbery, etc. A poor person remains uneducated & is forced to live under unhygienic conditions in slums. There are no proper sanitation & drinking water facility in slums & he falls ill often &  his health deteriorates. A poor person generally dies an early death. So, all social evils are related to poverty.

Government Schemes to Remove Poverty

The government of India also took several measures to eradicate poverty from India. Some of them are – creating employment opportunities , controlling population, etc. In India, about 60% of the population is still dependent on agriculture for its livelihood. Government has taken certain measures to promote agriculture in India. The government constructed certain dams & canals in our country to provide easy availability of water for irrigation. Government has also taken steps for the cheap availability of seeds & farming equipment to promote agriculture. Government is also promoting farming of cash crops like cotton, instead of food crops. In cities, the government is promoting industrialization to create more jobs. Government has also opened  ‘Ration shops’. Other measures include providing free & compulsory education for children up to 14 years of age, scholarship to deserving students from a poor background, providing subsidized houses to poor people, etc.

Poverty is a social evil, we can also contribute to control it. For example- we can simply donate old clothes to poor people, we can also sponsor the education of a poor child or we can utilize our free time by teaching poor students. Remember before wasting food, somebody is still sleeping hungry.

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This ‘power’, however, for some reasons, has remained the prerogative of a selected few while the others had to continuously struggle to prove their worth and efficiency. The efforts of this great visionary opened the confines and prompted the vulnerable to think, attempt and execute.

So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you . Dr. B. R. Ambedkar A man’s power is dependent upon… education, accumulation of scientific knowledge, everything that enables him to be more efficient than the savage… Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

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The  looking-glass self is a social psychological concept. It states that a person's ‘self’ grows out of interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of the others. People’s personality is developed on the basis of what other people perceive and confirm other people's opinion of themselves.

Srinivas, M. (1957). Caste in Modern India.  The Journal of Asian Studies,   16 (4), 529–548. https://doi.org/10.2307/2941637 .

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Dworkin, R. (2001). What is equality? Part 2 equality of resources (1st edn.). Routedge e-book published 30 Sept 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315199795 . In H. Mane (Ed.), The Notion of Equality (1st edn.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/978131519979

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Kale, R.K., Acharya, S.S. (2022). Introduction—Marginalization in India—Matters of Inclusion and Access. In: Kale, R.K., Acharya, S.S. (eds) Mapping Identity-Induced Marginalisation in India . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3128-4_1

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BRITISH POLICY OF ‘PROTECTIVE DISCRIMINATION’ AND ITS IMPACT: A CASE STUDY ON UNDERPRIVILEGED SECTION OF THE SOCIETY IN BENGAL

Authored by Bipul Mandal Published on Mar 20, 2020 in Articles

Abstract: Protective discrimination is the policy of granting special privileges to the downtrodden and the underprivileged sections of society. It is generally based on race, ethnicity, gender, or geographical location. During the second half of the Nineteenth Century, the British Government decided to take special measures for the welfare of the ‘depressed classes’. By the 1880s, special schools, scholarships, and other assistance for the depressed classes had been established, both by the British Government and by the native rulers. The British officers in India, therefore, were strongly motivated to work for the social upliftment of the Depressed Classes. A significant outcome of these ameliorative measures on the part of the British was that the depressed classes were grateful and dependent on Englishmen in their quest for equality. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay explains the situations that led to the application of the device of ‘protective discrimination’ particularly when the high Caste Hindu ‘bhadralok’ began to question the legitimacy of the raj at the turn of the century. Unlike other parts of Bengal, in North Bengal, reservation policy has created complex social relationships among the inhabitants, both indigenous and migrants.

Keywords: downtrodden, depressed classes, Struggle, untouchability, constitution, inequality, consciousness

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Essay on ‘Poverty’ for UPSC: Improve UPSC Essay Topics Writing Skill with Ease

To those that are looking to improve their UPSC essay topics writing skills for the IAS exam can go through this article.

This article provides a sample essay on poverty for UPSC and candidates can learn how to write the best essay for UPSC.

The article will first introduce the topic, then talk about the issue of poverty in India and then conclude by talking about changes that can help create a change.

Essay on ‘Poverty’ for UPSC – First Para

Poverty is said to be a state where a person cannot even get the most basic needs of human life. They cannot get these basic needs due to lack of financial resources in their life. Poverty is a very major issue in the country. The poverty level in India is very high and is hindering the development goals of the country. The reasons for poverty are many but in short, population explosion, lower agricultural productivity, price rise, insufficient resources, debt trap and no proper government program development.

These causes have increased the poverty level and have increased the gap between the rich and poor. The poor keep getting poor whereas the rich keep getting richer. This has further caused problems in the economy. Poverty not only affects a single family or person, but also the economy of the country. The overall economy of the country depends on the output produced and poverty decreases the efficiency.

Problems with Poverty

Poverty also leads to problems like illiteracy, bad health and these lead to a downfall in human capital. Due to high poverty, India has a huge labour force that works for underpaid amounts and they hardly manage to meet the daily needs of their family.

Malnutrition and unhygienic living conditions is very common among the poor sections of society. Poverty also leads to discrimination in society. The poor are looked down upon and people believe they are not the same as the rich and noble. They do not get the chance to overcome this poverty due to discrimination. The poor section of people due to illiteracy do not get high paid jobs, and the poverty continues.

Second Para

Poverty has been in society for a long time and to create change it is very important to have support from the private sector too. The government has set up a lot of programmes in order for poverty alleviation. The NREGA 2005 is one of the most famous programmes released by the government. The program gives wages to laborers for work provided. Even if the government cannot give them work, they yet will be given the amount promised by the government. This programme is one of the most profound and important programmes for poverty alleviation in India.

Present State

The government is doing the best it can but the people need to create a change in mindsets. The need for having no discrimination is very important. With a change in mindset will come the ability for creating a real change in the society. These changes will also help in eliminating poverty.

The coronavirus is a deadly disease that has been affecting the lives of every person, but the most affected are again the poor section of society. Government programs alone will not be enough to create a permanent change, NGOs are going out of their way to create a change and it is very positive to see the rich trying to create a change by donating or helping by providing even the basic services.

Conclusion Para

Poverty is an issue that will not disappear in a day or two but even the most basic efforts have not been helping to eradicate poverty. India has had a large section of poor people from the time of British rule itself. India has overcome many stages but is yet to cut down the poverty levels by a big majority in recent times. Poverty is not just subjected to not having enough money but also not having the ability to get basic life requirements like food, sanitation, clean drinking water or even shelter. Rapid economic growth through a boost in technology has surely helped India to halve the rate of poverty from 55% to 27%. This positive growth in poverty alleviation is very essential for the basic development of India.

Also Read: Best Essay Books for UPSC: Perfect the Art of IAS Essay Writing

This article is a sample essay for UPSC essay topics. This will help students to understand how to write essays for the IAS exam and how to write to score higher in exams.

The essay is divided into parts so that it is easier to cover every aspect of the topic. This will allow you to show the knowledge you have on the topic and also try your best to link the topic to a current affair.

Also Read: Essay on ‘Climate Change’ for UPSC: Learn How to Write Best Essay for UPSC

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Marginalization And The Indian English Literature

Literature represents life and life is a social reality. A writer, who is a member of a society, is possessed of specific social status and he / she receives some degree of social recognition and reward. De Bonald considers “literature is an expression of society”. In a world when issues relating to human rights have been under critical focus, literary depictions of the experiences of marginalized groups have acquired great significance. The modern spurt in Dalit literature in India is an attempt to bring to the forefront the experiences of discrimination, violence and poverty of the Dalit. Expression of these experiences have long been buried in silence, often with religious and social sanction and relegated to the margins as non-literary. More recent is the trend to deny their existence altogether. The growing corpus of Dalit texts, poems, novels and autobiographies, however, seek to rectify this phenomenon by examining the nuances of Dalit culture. Dalit literature is one of the most important literary movements to emerge in post-independence India. The transformation of the stigmatized identity of these so called ‘untouchables’ to a self-chosen identity as Dalit is a story of collective struggle waged over centuries. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, two towering figures in the pantheon of Dalit history, were the first to appropriate the word. The voice of the marginalized and the oppressed is a great tool to recognize the obscured conditions that exist in the world around. With the knowledge gained from marginalized literature, we will be able to fight ignorance surrounding the lives of these people and the prejudice that is a result of that ignorance. One of the important objectives of Indian English writers of fiction has been the creative interpretation of Indian society and its culture and the ‘formulation and projection of the Indian image. The Indian society is broadly classified into three main communities, namely, the upper-caste, the non-upper-caste and the depressed classes. Among them, there existed many castes and sub-castes, which followed numerous practices and usages; surprisingly each of them is unique. The influence of upper-castes is greatly felt in the socio-religious and cultural lives of the marginalized sections over the years.

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Arunakumari S

arunakumari s

This article tries to interact with Indian English fiction narratives and their representation within the academy as a nationwide, secularism, but mostly casteless land. That point raised is about the relationship between caste and the English language in respect to phenomena that are completely ignorant of scientific knowledge. Caste or Varna is certainly not the creation of God, the privileged class created this for their own selfish gains. Many great Scholars and writers like Dr. B R Ambedkar, Om Prakash Valmiki, Kancha Ilaiaah, Sharan Kumar Limbale, and others have taught a relentless battle against the caste system by their thoughts, ideas, and writings. All these writers, written Dalit as a character in their works called Dalit literature, Dalit literature is important because they allow the Dalits as minority groups to provide a window into how they can be resettled into society, interpreting the history and culture of India. During the colonial rule, the upper-class people were studying in England used to have to suffer, humiliation every step of their stay in England, even in train, college, the hotel they want to sit in the third class seat, these upper-class Indians were unaware that perhaps Dalits in India were condemned to even the most severe kinds of humiliated. The humiliation of the Indian elite at the hands of the British, and the humiliation of Dalits now at the clutches of upper caste people are the same.

India as a vast and richest country in the world, has a glorious and very colourful past from the very beginning, of civilizations, of heritages and of cultural diversity also. The Indian culture, often labelled as an amalgamation of various cultures of many religions, faiths and spans across the Indian subcontinent and has been influenced by a history of Indian philosophy, literature, architecture, art and music. Amongst the different aspects of Indian cultures, Indian literature has a recognisable heritage, mainly in epics (mahakavyam), poetry (kavyam) and dramas (natyam). Through literature which is truly diverse in nature, only we could present any subjects of literary traditions. Then it is our duty to ensure that all writers whether they practiced this cultural diversity in Indian English literature since we are the patrons of that great tradition which Britishers left behind us and also being Indians we encourage the unity in diversity also. The dominance of Brahmins in the authorship of Indian English novels are unjustifiable, because you can find books that featured by working class writers who are from the dominant culture, they discuss only about family, tradition, and the inequities of the caste system throughout their narratives. For example Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Anita Desai, Toru Dutt and etc, where Dalit’s and tribal’s voices were misrepresented by them like in ‘untouchable’, where diversity means nothing, since it is the fostering of knowledge and understanding of other’s experiences through various kinds of narrations. In this paper my very concern is to highlight the casteist attitudes of Indian writers and to prove the very existence of casteism in Indian English novels, and it is high time for us to rewrite over this misrepresentation, negative stereotyping throughout writings and it mainly focusses on the ways to eradicate all discriminations in society - based not just on ethnicity, but also on religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability - in an appropriate way (for which Dalit writings may help to an extent) and to help promoting equality between all sects and castes rather than of classes and races because the problem is of caste rather than that of class and race.

Studia Neophilologica

Heinz Werner Wessler

Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)

Revathi Ponnudurai Asst.Prof, English Vel Tech University, Chennai

The major focus of this piece of writing is to compare the way of representation of caste as theme for two prominent schools of writing in India; that is Indian Literature in English and Indian Literature in other languages. David Davidar and Omprakash Valmiki's work are chosen for the article. Among their works The House of Blue Mangoes (2002) and Joothan: A Dalit's Life (2003) respectively, are chosen, as they deal with caste issues. Both the works are sensitive portrayals of the lives of lower-caste people and their attempts at coming in terms with the reality of their shackled existence. It is not to grade the two schools of writings, but to analyze their differences in the way of illustration of the theme of caste as presented in the mainstream writing and regional writing. In order to understand the trends of Mainstream writing and Regional writing, it is indispensable to have an overview on Indian Literature in English and Indian Literature in English Translation.

Rajeshwar Mittapalli

In the absence of a well-established tradition of historiography literature has been the only reliable source of Indian social history for ages. In the postcolonial era Mulk Raj Anand's novel "The Road", Rohinton Mistry's "A Fine Balance", and Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things" have faithfully documented the social history of the dalits. Together they constitute a powerful critique of the moral corruption and hypocrisy of the Indian society which allows untouchability to continue. This paper will explore how the three novels present various discourses that construct dalit subjectivity and how in their own way the dalit protagonists offer resistance. By focusing on the dalit characters and their social matrix these novels help sensitize society to the problems the dalits face. Therefore, the paper further argues that fictional 'representation' of the dalit consciousness and social history is tantamount to 'resistance', ...

ODISEA. Revista de estudios ingleses

Ana Garcia-Arroyo

AMRJ PUBLICATION

Amar Gejage

The concept of caste Dalit ,as well as the literature created by Dalits in India, has been thoroughly examined in this paper. Dalits have written a diverse range of literary works based on their own personal experiences. The experiences of being a Dalit has inspired them to represent their inhuman situation ,which is exacerbated by India's infamous caste system, which has existed for centuries. The beginning of the caste system with beginning of Hindu religious theology, where in India are there stratification/Savarnas among Hindu communities. The Dalits are on the fourth rung of the social ladder. as a Dalit , they are treated even worse ,as if they were an animal. they have been denied their basic human rights and the dignity to live as human beings for many years, they have been subjected to various forms of humiliation, torture, and slavery, and they have been denied the right to live. This long standing denial has caused India's Dalit community to vent their anguish and sense powerlessness via various forms of writing. They have spoken out against the harsh Hindu caste system that continues to oppress them in all aspects of life through their micronarratives.

India as a vast and richest country in the world, has a glorious and very colourful past from the very beginning, of civilizations, of heritages and of cultural diversity also. The Indian culture, often labelled as an amalgamation of various cultures of many religions, faiths and spans across the Indian subcontinent and has been credited with shaping much of Indian philosophy, literature, architecture, art and music. Amongst the different aspects of Indian cultures, Indian literature has a recognisable heritage, mainly in epics (mahakavyam), poetry (kavyam) and dramas (natyam). Through literature which is truly diverse in nature, only we could present any subjects of literary traditions in India which is one of the richest in the world, combining as it does the diverse linguistic and cultural traditions which coexist within the Indian subcontinent. Indian writing in English, still considered an elite and esoteric brand of literature even after more than two hundred years of its existence because it has a collective well-equipped and prominent prolific writers like Mulk Raj Anand,

International Res Jour Managt Socio Human

Dalit literature fights for purgation of defiled social system. It deals not only with the themes of marginality and resistance but also explains about the Marxist changes influencing their condition. It is a living, breathing literary movement that is intent on establishing itself as an integral part of the field of Indian literature. Dalit literature protests against all forms of exploitation based on class, race, caste or occupation. It has not been recognized as a literature till 1970 but now its name is being heard all around the world. It has made the people to think against the exploitation and suppression. The rise of this literature marks a new chapter for India's marginalized class. Umpteen magazines, literary forums and workshops about Dalit came into existence because of this literature. Many well known Dalit writers are emerged from villages and towns. The poets, short story writers, novelists are receiving both exposure and opportunity in the marketplace that they have never before received. This chapter basically tries to focus on how the Dalit literature fights for purgation of defiled social system. To unfold the major and even minor complexities faced by them, Dalit literature came into existence. The studies are now firmly established as an important and indispensable aspect of all attempts to understand and analyze the complexities of Indian society. In connection to this, J. Jayakiran Sebastian says: “For far too long, there seemed to be an almost embarrassed silence when it came to fleshing out the harsh experiences of Dalit communities in independent India. Should one speak of an „Embarrassed silence‟ or of a „conspiracy of silence‟ when it comes to such matters? Or the resurgence of Dalit pride and the increasing recognition of the vital role played by Dalit communities in the political land.”1 I would discuss each important writer a

Booksclinic Publishing, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh

The book “Perspectives on Indian Dalit Literature: Critical Responses” is a volume of twenty six scholarly articles focusing on the theme of Dalit’s freedom and emancipation from traditional caste-stigmatised society which sacrifices the interest of Dalits on the altar of tradition. The book endeavours to articulate voices among this marginalized class of people to come in action from their passivity and stillness. The book also tries to cover almost all eminent Dalit writers of past and present century like Omprakash Valmiki, Baby Kamble, Bama Faustina Soosairaj, Meena Kandasamy, Namdeo Dhasal, Sharankumar Limbale, Bhimrao Shirwale, Hira Bansode etc. along with some non-Dalit wrters like Munshi Premchand, Mulk Raj Anand, Arvind Adiga etc. who have sought plea for this marginalized class of people with same ardour and passion as other Dalit writers through their write ups. Hopefully this anthology would serve for better humanity.

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Psychology Discussion

Essay on socially disadvantaged children | psychology.

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Here is an essay on ‘Socially Disadvantaged Children’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Socially Disadvantaged Children’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Educational Guidance and Counselling for SD Children

Essay # 1. Meaning of Socially Disadvantaged Children:

Educators categorise them somewhat arbitrarily into one or more of the following areas of deprivation: economic, racial, geographic, social, cultural, cognitive, and/or emotional. Historically one can identify the roots of this population in terms of their educational needs, but it was not until the mid- 1960s that writers such as Reissman and Havighurst and their turns at defining the characteristics that constitute this deprived, educationally deprived, underprivileged, disadvantaged, lower class, and lower social-economic group, could all be used interchangeably. This is reflected in his class’s book. The culturally deprived child. These children have some strength not only deficiencies.

There is a need to develop qualities within this population such as physical orientation, hidden verbal ability, creative potential, group cohesiveness, informality and sense of humor.

The term ‘Disadvantaged’ mean children, who come from socio-economical backward section of the community who cannot profit from school because of deprivation of one sort or another, and children who are seen in interior tribal and rural areas of country where educational facilities have not reached in the way we find them in a metropolitan area.

In other words, the term disadvantaged would include, children who not only belong to the above criteria but children who are exposed to disadvantaged schools in the rural and slum areas. Hence, both the ecology of the family and the ecology of the institution contribute to educational deficits of the disadvantaged.

Again, cultural deprivation refers to a complex set of conditions which create intellectual deficiency in a child. These conditions include unstimulated environment, lack of verbal interaction with adults, poor sensory experience and other deleterious environmental factors associated with poverty.

However, the term ‘deprived’ or ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘culturally different’ was used to indicate who are marked by the following there general characteristics during their school life:

1. Progressive decline in intellectual functioning,

2. Cumulative Academic Achievement Deficits, and

3. Premature School termination or higher drop-out rate.

Essay # 2. Characteristics of Socially Disadvantaged Children:

Keeping this nature of learning process aside, the gap between a culturally disadvantaged child and a normal child begins to grow with age and exposure to classroom learning. A wide gap was found between the Blacks and middle class whites when achievement, tests and verbal ability were taken into account. Actually it is not stimulation but the quality of stimulation that is important. The verbal milieu in which the middle class children grow up corresponds much more closely to school learning situation. Middle class children have a superior quality of both verbal and non-verbal stimulation at home. Again the stimulation is very distinct and the reinforcement system is of a delayed kind.

The social and cultural disadvantage is not crystal clear in India. All low income group children are not necessarily at a disadvantage. The children of higher SES have culture superior to those of the low caste Harijans who are given the same low social-economic status. The distance between Brahmins and Harijans has widened due to the cumulative effects. There are empirical findings which supports the cultural effects of high casts home.

A marked difference was felt among the students of different social-economic groups so far as intellectual capacity was concerned. It is true that better economic conditions, education and occupational status of the parents were the most significant contributory factor for the intellectual development of the children. Researchers place emphasis on stimulating environment in early life for intellectual growth of children.

The following are the main characteristics of socially disadvantaged children:

(1) Poor Academic performance

(2) Cognitive deficiencies

(3) Apathetic, unresponsive and lack initiative

(4) Lower achievement

(5) Basic Intelligence

(6) Socially Disadvantaged, and

(7) Intellectual performance.

(1) Poor Academic Performance:

These children show poor academic performance of high drop-out rates, reading and other learning disabilities and have adjustment problems. Socio-economically backward children practically show every such index. They have lower grades, their health is poor, and they have deficiencies in the two most skills reading and language, necessary for success in school. They have minimal training in disciplined group behaviour and educationally they are less ambitious.

Children for such environments are apt to have various linguistic disabilities. They also show incapacity in cognitive processes such as—the ability to observe and stating sequences of events, perceiving cause and effect relationship, classifying concrete objects, attributing responsibility to self and in general have poor self-concrete. The combination of non-verbal orientation and an absence of conceptualisation very well account for their intellectual deficits and deficit in cognitive skills or in Piagetian terminology, formal logical thinking is absent in all such children or appear very late in the development.

(2) Cognitive Deficiencies:

The cognitive deficiencies are again complicated by their pattern of motivation and attitudes. Psychologists explain that these children have a feeling of alienation induced by family climate and experience combined with a debilitatingly low self-concept. The intend to question their own worth to fear being challenged and to exhibit a desire to cling to the familiar. They have many feelings of guilt and shame. These children are wary and their trust in adults is limited. They make trigger like response and are hyperactive.

(3) Apathetic, Unresponsive and Lack Initiative:

They are apathetic unresponsive and lack initiative. It is difficult for them to form meaningful relationships. Although these characteristics are rooted in early childhood family background and social class membership of the family etc. Yet the attitudes of the teacher and the curriculum in the school increase the alienation of these children. Very often there is a communication gap

between the teacher and the students, the objectives of instruction and the actual evaluation of instruction in terms of pupils performance as well as discontinuities in the meanings attached to verbal cues employed in teaching and curriculum materials and the meanings which these children have acquired in their out of school experiences.

(4) Lower Achievement:

The lower achievement of disadvantaged children could be attributed to at least five causes: malnutrition, genetic, lack of stimulating early experience, social motivation and cultural values. In addition, the cognitive style or strategy adopted by a group may account for the lower performance of the disadvantaged children.

(5) Basic Intelligence:

Many the results supported that with exception to basic intelligence where group difference did not occur between different castes groups, the low caste children did show deficits in personality information processing modes, and intellectual achievement. And the deficits also indicated progressive or cumulative retardation in most of the measures. Hence in our cultural background memberships in low caste and low income family do predispose children to an impoverished environment and the consequence of this deprivation are cumulative over time.

(6) Socially Disadvantaged:

Children from low socio-economic status (SES) – Socially disadvantaged home drop out form schools. Wastage and stagnation is a characteristic of the socially disadvantaged group. Drop out is solely due to cultural disadvantaged characteristics of low cast and rural background. The facts suggest that everything else remaining same the greater drop-out rate is influenced by cultural disadvantage or deprivation. There are various causes of drop-outs but membership a low casts/low income group mostly makes on drop-out-prone in school. Similar trends are seen in all states in India.

(7) Intellectual Performance:

Within the deprived community the girls appeared to be comparatively better than the boys in intellectual performance. There is a curvilinear relationship between sex and arithmetic reasoning and arithmetic fundamentals across grade levels. But in readings comprehension and reading vocabulary than boys across all grade levels children girls did better having physical/orthopaedic problems did not show consistent poor performance in the cognitive tasks.

The research findings permit us a general statement i.e., all groups of disadvantaged rural students are characterised by poor cognitive competence and educational achievement. We essentially came to the same conclusion whether we analyzed the result in terms of organismic variable such as- sex race grade levels or by dichotomising the Ss on the basis of some basis of some behavioural characteristics social emotional physical. Differentiation on the basis of physical characteristics offered some meaningful about rural disadvantaged children especially of their educational retardation. Obviously sensory impairments and general malanutritional factors do inhibit school learning.

Essay # 3. Special Learning Characteristics of SD Children:

Special learning characteristics of the socially deprived or disadvantaged student might include many of the following:

(1) Orientation towards physical and visual rather than to the oral;

(2) Content-centred rather than introspective;

(3) Problem-centred rather than abstract centred;

(4) Inductive rather than deductive;

(5) Spatial rather than temporal;

(6) Slow, careful, patient and persevering rather than quick, clever, facile, and flexible;

(7) Inclined to communicate through actions rather than words;

(8) Deficient in auditory attention and interpretation skills;

(9) Oriented toward concrete application of what is learned;

(10) Short attention span;

(11) Characteristic gaps in knowledge and learning;

(12) Lacking experiences of receiving approval for success in tasks. Meeting the needs of the disadvantaged child is relatively new educational approach.

Although Riessman has made great efforts to identify some characteristics that might be construed as potentially positive qualities he also is cognisant of the negative criteria. The disadvantage children differ from advantaged class in only six areas self-concept motivation, social behaviour language intellectual functioning and physical fitness.

Essay # 4. Identification of Socially Disadvantaged Children:

The term ‘disadvantaged’ is used to indicate the following observable behaviour:

1. Progressive decline in intellectual functioning in school.

2. Cumulative academic achievement deficits.

3. Premature school termination and high dropout rate.

4. Reading and learning disabilities.

5. Poor language learning.

6. In adequate social learning and observing in the absence of model.

7. Low attention span and distraction in learning.

8. Lack of proficiency in higher form of cognitive learning and transfer.

9. Lack of abstract and state sequence of events in a learning situation.

10. Inability to classify and form logical concepts, incapacity to verbalise events and solutions.

11. Lack of analytic ability which is essential for learning.

12. They show belief in external factors, i.e., luck chance, late etc. rather than their own self and activity.

13. They cannot delay gratification immediate tangible and non-contingent rewards are their need.

14. They have a high sense of avoidance for failure than striving success.

15. They have poor self-concept, low achievement aspiration and low need achievement including lack of desire for self-actualisation.

16. Their general behaviour lacks intrinsic motivation. Insecurity and anxiety are very obvious.

Essay # 5. Etiology of Socially Disadvantage Children (Causes):

Cultural deprivation or disadvantaged arise due to a complex set of conditions which create intellectual deficiency in a child. Some of these conditions are attributed to unstimulating environment, lack of verbal interaction with adults poor sensory experience and other deleterious environmental factors generally associated with adults poor sensory experience and other deleterious environmental factors generally associated with poverty low social status, malnutrition, broken homes.

It relates to the following areas of socio-cultural experiences:

(1) Housing conditions,

(2) Home Environment,

(3) Economic Conditions,

(4) Food and Nutrition,

(5) Clothing,

(6) Educational Experiences,

(7) Childhood Experiences,

(8) Rearing Experiences,

(9) Parental Characteristic,

(10) Interaction with parents,

(11) Motivation Characteristics,

(12) Emotional Experiences,

(13) Travel and Recreation and

(14) Socio-cultural Experiences.

Essay # 6. Nutritional Deprivation of SD Children:

Poverty may effect intellectual development through physical conditions i.e., malnourishment. Poverty is all pervasive in India and is responsible for social and education pathology. There is a cultural of poverty characterised by the legacy of psychological distortion which manifests itself in profound alienation form larger society and people, feeling in powerlessness and meaningless in struggles.

When we live in a society, of self-advertisement and propagation, these people remain only conscious of their deprivation. Our attitudes further brutalises the poor and the under privileged. Psychological poverty, intellectual and effective poverty nutritional and biochemical deficiency institutional poverty- predispose a lower SES child more than anyone else for educational under achievement.

Essay # 7. Problems of SD Children:

Different studies on disadvantaged children brought another factor to the forefront. It was found that crucial handicap of socially disadvantaged children is language.

Acquisition and use of language need the functioning of three psycholinguistic process:

(i) Receptive process,

(ii) Associative process, and

(iii) Expressive process.

Despite controversies in this regard, all researchers agree that the socially disadvantaged child possesses a linguistic system which is different from that of the socially advantaged child.

(1) Language Difficulties:

The language difficulties may be the result of one or all or any combination of the following factors:

(a) A different linguistic environment,

(b) A different language acquisition device,

(c) A different set of psycholinguistic abilities,

(d) Economic, educational and place or residence variables,

(e) Poor and uneducated families.

Language experts felt that an inadequate linguistic environment makes a poor input language acquisition device and hence retards language perception and production. The development of linguistic awareness and language learning are hampered in an environment where there is very little linguistic interaction.

(2) Nutritional Deficiency:

Besides language difficulties, nutritional deficiency is another potent factor for socially disadvantaged a child which is considered as the greatest deterrent to physical health. Studies report that malnourishment has a serious effect on physical anomalies and deficiencies on intellectual performance of low SES children. They are inferior to advantaged children in discrimination learning. According to Livingston, “Malnutrition given rise to mental apathy, a shortened span of attention, reduced mental powers and increased drowsiness, etc.”

(3) Motivational Problems:

Many of the deficits observed in the socially disadvantaged are more motivational rather than intellectual and cognitive. The underprivileged children display some significant motivational problems which determine a major aspect of their behaviour patterns.

(i) The show belief in external factors i.e., luck, chance fake etc., rather than their own self and activity. This inability attributes causality to one’s own behaviour accounts for poor motivation in any task.

(ii) They cannot delay gratification. Immediate tangible and non-contingent rewards are their need.

(iii) They have high sense of avoiding failure than striving for success.

(iv) They have poor self-concept, low achievement aspiration, and need achievement including lack of desire for self-actualisation.

Essay # 8. Remedial Measures for SD Children:

Certain remedial measures have been recommended. It is true that deprivation does exist among the socially disadvantaged children due to predominantly.

1. Inadequate early socialisation,

2. Mark of oppression,

3. Organic deficits,

4. Inadequate social environment, and

5. Culture conflicts and educational deprivation.

The following objects should be taken into consideration for enrichment programmes on remedial education:

(1) Socially disadvantaged children must be trained to achieve three objectives, viz., Knowledge, Skill and Attitude.

(2) Self-concept, level of aspiration and achievement motivation should be accelerated.

(3) Language training and analytical thinking must be included.

(4) These children must be trained to acquaint themselves with concrete life situations.

(5) They must be aware of their various creative talents and they must be trained to develop a sense of comparative living in them, so that they can easily participate with normal students.

In order to reverse the ill effect research studies support certain measures:

(1) Early modelling and imitation of desirable behaviour.

(2) Language enrichment programme and stimulation at home.

(3) Affective attention and acceptance,

(4) Providing initial success experience to build better motivating and striving for success.

(5) Removal of discrimination attitudes on the part or teachers and other significant members of society.

(6) Instructional programmes may be geared to their needs and ability level.

(7) Giving responsibility, recognition, tangible rewards positive remarks etc.

(8) Exposure to sensitivity training, exposure to literature, discussion and group contracts, role playing, case conferences relating to their problems.

(9) Presenting learning materials using, images, aids, and providing adequate organizers and drill.

Compensator education programmes have provided the validity of these recommendations.

Essay # 9. Educational Provisions for SD Children:

Educational provisions have been making for the socially disadvantaged by the government. In the arena of intellectual and social competence, enrichment programmes were designed to develop and enlarge children’s conceptual repertoire and communicative skills.

Some measures are discussed below:

(1) Establishment of Residential Schools:

Steps should be taken to establish residential schools and Ashram schools for disadvantaged children like SC and ST. Of course residential types of schools are made to suit the needs of Adivasis. Measures should be taken to make these institutions more homely. Recently, the government has taken the initiative to solve the economic problems existing in these types of Ashram schools. The charges for education, clothing, boarding and medical care are being met by the government. But a meticulous examination reveals that the existing numbers of residential schools are inadequate in this regard. So, recreational centres guidance and counselling centres should be established to meet this immediate demand.

(2) Financial Help for Disadvantaged Children:

Poverty is a pertinent factor which is found to be a barrier in the path of progress of the disadvantaged children. Of course, the government has been giving financial aid to these students long since. On the basis of poverty-cum-merit, other backward classes are also given assistance. Pre-matric and post-matric scholarships are also being given now by the government to provide financial help. In some universities and institutions, payments for admissions and tuition fees are also exempted.

(3) Appointment of Expert Teachers:

A decision has been taken by the government to replace the untrained teachers by trained ones and to absorb the existing hands in suitable posts. In some cases, these untrained teachers were asked to have the requisite qualification within a short space of time. Again, there is a plan to given rewards to those teachers who specialize in braille, tribal dialect and hearing aid.

Residential accommodation is being provided to teacher experts and administrators who work in hilly and tribal areas. It is true that incentives in terms of additional payment, accommodation etc., reduce the truancy of the teaching experts. Also steps are being taken by the government to hold in-service training programmes and refreshed courses. In some areas, teachers are also being trained in tribal dialect and tribal culture.

(4) Craft Education:

Under government instructions, some useful crafts like carpentry, weaving and tailoring were introduced to suit the needs of SCs and STs which are a must for their economic development. But a proposal should be made to the government to introduce agriculture and spinning in boys’ Ashram Schools and gardening in girls’ Ashram Schools. Statistics reveal that the government has made craft education compulsory in some states and union territories.

(5) Incentives to Indigent Families:

It is generally found that the percentage of dropouts for SC and ST students is high during the early school years. The reason is obvious. These students come from low SES strata. Their parents are needy and impoverished. According to the parents of these children, education is not a necessity, but a luxury.

But recently, government has taken steps for more enrolment of these students. Priority is being given for the education of the weaker sections of the people and children. Incentives are being provided to indigent families, so that they would be able to send their children regularly to school.

(6) Compensatory Pre-School Education:

Research works reveal that the mental development of children generally takes place between 3 and 7 years. During this period every child must be kept in a very healthy environment. Otherwise, he will face some anomalies in future. Keeping this in mind, special attention must be paid to pre-school education of every child. As a result, they will benefit from primary education in future.

The disadvantaged children have poor vocabulary (which is a setback) to following the state language. Pre-school period is considered to be the formative period of a child’s life. Through compensatory pre-school education, a child can improve his vocabulary and language difficulties can ultimately be surmounted. But provision should be made to supply free reading and writing materials.

(7) Adjustment of School Hours and Vacations:

Adjustment of School vacation and school hours becomes a necessity for these children to meet the socio-economic needs of the community. The percentage of dropouts and stagnation can be reduced to the minimum if school hours and vacations can be properly adjusted so that these children get ample opportunity to assist their parents. For example, in agricultural communities, the schools must have three hours duration for teaching and vacations can be adjusted keeping the sowing and harvesting periods of major crops in view. There must be holidays for local festivals and community functions.

(8) Adult Education Programmes:

Truly speaking, educated parent can get their children educated with little effort. So parents must be educated first to take care of the disadvantaged children. Reports say that in our country, a fairly good section of people belonging to SCs and STs are not educated. So measures are being taken to educate them through adult education programmes. Through this attempt, they will be able to understand the value of education and responsibility for the future generation. Of course the government has taken the initiative to open Anganwadis, non-formal and adult education centres to help SC and ST people.

(i) Techniques of Evaluation:

Steps may be taken to adopt new techniques of evaluation ad continuous assessment of these types will be conducive. Due to the fallacious examination system and. evaluation, most of the disadvantaged children fail in the promotional examinations. To bring out modern and sophisticated evaluation techniques, the teachers must be provided with item banks. Considering the stagnation and dropouts, continuous and meticulous evaluation must be introduced to help these children as far as practicable. Extra coaching after school hours may be encouraged to help the weak students.

(ii) Follow-up Action:

Students coming from Ashram schools or from residential type of schools generally go for higher education or take up any job to earn their livelihood. Government has a plan to help these students by providing grants to settle down in life. But, sometimes correct statistics are not available. So, steps have to be taken to the names of these students from Ashram schools and adjust accordingly with authorities.

Essay # 10. Educational Guidance and Counselling for SD Children:

Education aims at bringing change which will affect the lives of students is & relevant concern for all educators. In the case of disadvantaged children the challenge is even greater. The likelihood that these children will overcome the handicaps of poverty in rural and as well as it slum areas seems to be related as to how effectively the school personnel assist them. In fact, individuality can be fostered and realized through effective guidance service and the establishment and development of these services can be enhanced by an appreciation of the ecology other the individual and ecology of the school.

Considering from all points of view, guidance activities for the disadvantaged may be organised in small groups of eight to twelve. The information giving, task orientation and counselling type of activities will be more effective in small groups for the disadvantaged, because they will not be inhibited before an adult authority as is true of an individual counselling situation. Role playing as a technique is most suitable for guiding the activities of the disadvantaged.

Further for helping the rural disadvantaged, guidance service, programme needs be extended through parental counselling, community resources clubs and referral to psychologist who should be available at least in each school complex. Guidance must form a part of the entire educational programme which students should perceive as personally relevant for them.

Social disadvantage is a socio-cultural-economic deprivation combined with deficit in cognitive stimulation at home which in then carried away to school. In school, social disadvantage is characterized in terms of achievement deficits, drop out and deficit language and competence. Discrimination and isolation accelerate the deficit process. Remedial education strategies, guidance, suggested teacher behaviour would eventually contribute to reducing disparities, difference and deficits whenever they arise.

Our schools and educational system must develop a better understanding of the implications of the social and psychological dynamics of deprivation and translate this understanding into educational programmes, into the training of teachers and administrators and into planning of curriculum and instruction. No single device will suffice to counteract or to remedy the complex factors; those are associated with the education of the underprivileged.

Administratively the problem can also be taken care of by dealing with acculturation problems and school learning by providing early school experience to these children and following and unguarded sequences or multiple entry system. To unlock the hidden potential among these children, a radical change in curriculum and teaching is required.

At least the new curriculums which has been introduced is constructed in such a way that it is related to the psychological realities of the psychological realities of the child, is tuned to our social and community life is geared towards achieving needs and aspirations of our people and the educational climate that is promulgated in the frame-work is more motivating in terms of teaching techniques for which orientation of teachers are conducted in a massive way by NCERT, SCERT and State Development of Education.

In a nutshell it is possible to conceive of education as countervailing force to overcome the deficits accumulated in underprivileged groups or what is currently understood as the broomstick effect. It is true that it is not the educators function only to reverse the negative impact of educational deprivation, social and effective insulation, caste discrimination and economic deprivation.

It involves all aspect of the community. The task surely calls for creative innovation all along the line. The crucial pedagogical problem involved is that of understanding the mechanism of learning facility and learning dysfunction and applying this knowledge to optimum development of a heterogeneous population characterised by differential backgrounds, opportunities and patterns of social and intellectual function.

For the most part, education of the disadvantaged children can be speeded up by disseminating appropriate method of child rearing systems and values among the parents much before the child comes to schools. This will definitely reduce the discontinuities in the norms of children and norms of school. In contrast to the varied, detailed and sometimes adequately designed studies and their reports, it is strange that the psychologists in this country do not take these generalizations to the reach of the common man who contributes to a great majority of the underprivileged children in school.

An important measure is to make education acceptable to the Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes which constitute a major block of the underprivileged group and make education relevant to them.

Role of Teacher:

The following instructional strategies for educating the disadvantaged are suggested considering the objectives of instructions and their entering behaviour to an instructional situation. Basically, there is no difference in the way in which the underprivileged children. Their learning processes are subject to the some general principles of learning as are the learning processes of the average or normal but with a difference the rate, the sequence, the type of materials and presentation modes.

There is need of a guideline for a teacher:

1. A continuous appraisal of progress and comprehensive measure of assessment-diagnosis via feedback should become a part of every teaching act and basis of planning the next learning experience.

2. It instruction is to be effective these students are to be simultaneously tried to achieve the three objectives- knowledge, skills and attitudes.

3. Since the students come to the school with cognitive deficit a special hour may be kept aside for remedial teaching language, training in how to increase some of their non-intellective characteristics, i.e., self-concept, level aspiration, n-ach, sense of responsibility etc.

4. Learning of concepts and ideas may be sequences before they are presented to the underprivileged group, using more of concrete and life like situations. Training for analytic thinking may also constitute a part of the instructional programme design.

5. The imposition of standardised expectation regarding performance should be replaced by ore individualisation in the rate of learning, exposure to varied materials. Instructions must be given how to pace performance according to their ability. The teacher has to ascertain the pre-requisites before instructing them to move to the next step; and make provisions for acting initial success experiences by the group.

6. For educating the underprivileged giving recognition, responsibility, tangible rewards, positive affective remarks encouraged in schools. Affective interactions and developments to be supported in a schools programme.

7. They also need to be acculturated through sensitivity training, exposure to literature, discussions and group contact, role playing and case conferences.

8. Self-instructional materials may be used best to their advantage.

9. The curriculum should have direct bearing on their life and work especially for tribal population.

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underprivileged

Definition of underprivileged

• disadvantaged

Examples of underprivileged in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'underprivileged.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1896, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing underprivileged

• the underprivileged

Dictionary Entries Near underprivileged

underprivilege

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“Underprivileged.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underprivileged. Accessed 30 May. 2024.

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Kids definition of underprivileged, more from merriam-webster on underprivileged.

Nglish: Translation of underprivileged for Spanish Speakers

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