Negotiating Labour and Schooling: Studying the Struggle for Education in Urban Schools

Introduction

Many people and groups have historically been excluded from particular facets of social life because of various factors like race, caste, citizenship, ethnicity, class, gender, personal habits, looks, education and religion (Alemanji, 2023; Bernstein et al., 2018; Nambissan, 2009; Zhang & Luo, 2016). They have been called by many different names throughout the course of history, such as destitute, underprivileged, marginalised, alienated and at-risk (Riele, 2006). This labelling exacerbates their social exclusion. The term “social exclusion,” used by social scientists, originated from studies on poverty and inequality to characterise the institutionalised barriers that keep people or groups away from obtaining opportunities, rights and resources normally available to other members of society (Silver, 1994). By investigation, those with less education or unlettered may find themselves socially isolated from others (Fingeret, 1983; Novotney, 2019). On the other hand, those with higher qualifications have easier access to necessities and can potentially integrate into society positively (Klasen, 2001). In this context, Angus articulated:

to explore the relationship of specific practices to wider social and cultural constructions and political and economic interests . . . [and thereby] shifts attention away from the nature of knowledge, the culture of schooling and . . . the question of for whom and in whose interests schools are to be effective (Angus, 1993, pp. 335, 342)

Yosso (2005) reports that a prevalent notion in educational institutions is that marginalised children originate from homes with low cultural capital, a combination of beliefs, knowledge, abilities and dispositions that are necessary for success in the larger meritocratic society. This prevalent belief tends to pathologise and stigmatise these children. It obscures their true qualities and assets, what Yosso refers to as “community cultural wealth” composed of aspirational capital, linguistic capital, familial capital, social capital, navigational capital and resistant capital. These six forms of capital collectively represent “an array of knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts possessed and utilised by ‘Communities of Color’ to survive and resist macro and micro-forms of oppression” (Yosso, 2005, p. 77). Children on the margins use a variety of community cultural wealth to sustain a good sense of self and successfully negotiate the institutional obstacles present in dominating institutions. Yosso (2005) contends that educators should recognise and capitalise on these children’s cultural treasures in their communities rather than concentrating on the alleged flaws of marginalised youth to increase student engagement. Subsequently, Yosso advocates for educators to recognise and leverage cultural wealth rather than pathologise marginalised youth, emphasising the importance of positive engagement. Thus, underachievement among disadvantaged children is a broader issue influenced by social and economic constructions rather than a sign of individual failure (McLaren, 1989). It needs systemic change, cultural appreciation and equity in education to address social exclusion and promote more inclusive practices.

Educating the Disadvantaged Children

Education is a fundamental right for all children in India (Government of India, 2009). India has systematically shifted from “equality of educational opportunity” to a “public education system of uniform quality” (Velaskar, 2010, pp. 64–65) to achieve inclusion. Commencing this process corresponds to the worldwide mission of all girls and boys complete free primary and secondary schooling by 2030 under SDG 4 (United Nations, 2015). However, many children face challenges in pursuing their educational goals due to their marginalised status. As a result, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 pledges a comprehensive overhaul of the education system to ensure that it is of the utmost quality for all students, regardless of their background, and to meet the current and future requirements and ambitions of the nation and its citizens (Government of India, 2020).

This pledge against marginalisation is due to many children are deprived of a minimum quality education, and some of these children remain even beyond the reach of formal schooling (Priya & Kumari, 2023). It is due to various factors such as gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, SES and occupational identity (Bailwal & Paul, 2021; Kalita, 2017; Makwana & Elizabeth, 2023; Mantey, 2017; Singh, 2014; Tilak, 2007). Caste still influences patterns of business ownership and employment opportunities, thereby affecting income and social status in modern urban economies (Jodhka, 2025). These factors collectively exacerbate educational stratification as they get limited, targeted benefits to address their historical exclusion and the pursuit of equality is neglected (Velaskar, 2010). This exclusion is acknowledged by NEP-2020 by reporting that the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) “for grades 6–8 was 90.9%, while for grades 9–10 and 11–12 it was 79.3% and 56.5%, respectively- indicating that a significant proportion of enrolled students drop out after Grade 5 and especially after Grade 8” (Government of India, 2020, p. 10). The rising proportion of students dropping out of school, particularly after the eighth grade, has raised doubts about the enduring benefits of such GER (Paul et al., 2021).

India harbours the largest number of poor people as a country. Nationwide, an estimated 30% of the population lives in poverty (Serneels & Dercon, 2021). Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (2018) shows India has a 27.5% multidimensional poverty index. Poverty denies children the most basic rights. In a way, economic disparities have intensified post-liberalisation (Jaffrelot et al., 2019), impacting the educational journey of low-income families. The challenges of accessing quality education intertwine with poverty, limited resource access and forms of discriminatory governance (Manjrekar, 2019). In these families, when parents plan to enrol their children in school, they face the direct expenses associated with education and the potential loss of income earned through (child)labour (Hanushek, 2020; UNESCO, 2022a). Dutta (2021), in his study, revealed that one-fourth of the children in the 6 to 17 years age group are multidimensionally poor in India. Among the children aged 6 to 17 years, the deprivation gap between the richest and poorest is highest in the education dimension as well as in the child protection dimension. Research studies have constantly revealed a dismal learning gap among socioeconomically disadvantaged children in India (Borooah & Iyer, 2005; Padalia & Mishra, 2023; Varughese & Bairagya, 2020) also in urban Indian context due to caste, labour, poverty and school stratification (Yunus, 2023). Due to this dismal gap, India holds second position in the World Development Report, 2018, composed of 12 nations where a standard II pupil could not read a single word of a brief text (World Bank, 2018). Likewise, ASER (2019) also showed that only 23% of standard V students correctly answered arithmetic problems involving two-digit division and only 44% of the same standard read class II textbooks.

In the existing literature, a significant relationship between family income, parental support, parental occupation, and literacy has been repeatedly shown to impact children’s learning outcomes. For instance, Raina (2023) claims that students from marginalised backgrounds often approach academic work in school settings with a distinct perspective. They perceive learning at school as a collection of short-term activities that are mostly unrelated to their everyday life (Raina, 2023). With this intention, these children lack motivation for learning, resulting in poor learning outcomes and diminished academic accomplishments (Raina, 2023). In addition to lack of motivation, infrastructure issues, lack of parental support, parental illiteracy, inadequate staff, child labour, less possibility of inclusive education, teachers’ lack of training and knowledge and so forth, impacts their academic achievement and enrolment in schools (Abdulraheem, 2011; Desai & Kulkarni, 2008; Juvonen et al., 2019; Kaushal, 2012; Priya & Kumari, 2023). Borooah (2012) reports that children are far less likely to learn foundational literacy and numeracy skills due to poverty. For example, across rural India, fewer than 25% of poorer children aged 11 to 13 are in school and have learned foundational literacy, just half the rate of wealthier children (Rose & Dyer, 2008). These children are more prone to developing a feeling of learned helplessness (Evans & Fuller-Rowell, 2013). Moreover, most elementary schools enforce the segregation of lower caste children from upper caste children, as directed by their teachers (Desai & Kulkarni, 2008). These experiences breed anger, hatred, a desire for retaliation, social insecurity, diminished morale, low self-esteem and a loss of motivation for schooling among lower-caste students (Nambissan, 2010). As a result, schools turn into environments where lower-caste children experience social exclusion, carrying the luggage of their caste identity from a young age, which ultimately results in diminished academic motivation (Pal, 2014).

Thus, poverty and survival-related challenges exist in poor communities, which is a big challenge for their educational inclusion. While policy documents and national reports have emphasised educational expansion numerically, they almost neglect the educational processes and experiences (Yunus, 2023). These children need special attention from policymakers in designing anti-poverty policy and in designing quality education.

The Present Study

The present study was conducted in Srinagar district of Kashmir, which is predominantly an urban area. Urban areas are characterised by high population density and concentrated human activities, which differ from less populated settings such as suburban and rural regions (Pateman, 2011). Likewise, urban areas are marked by stark inequalities, where affluent communities coexist with marginalised communities living in informal settlements with limited access to basic infrastructure and services (Chudgar et al., 2025). Similarly, in the present urban setting, there is a footfall of the sweeper community, a marginalised community. The people of this community mostly follow their ancestral occupation of sanitation work (Ahmad & Shah, 2022, 2025). In the Srinagar district, Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) engages them in sweeping, and some are also absorbed in other departments for sweeping based on their caste. Sweeper community is situated at the lowest rung of the caste and occupation, characterised by interconnected layers of prejudice and marginalisation (Shah, 2023; Ahmad et al., 2025). They face systemic barriers that restrict their integration into broader social networks, limit their access to employment and educational prospects and perpetuate a cycle of passing down “menial” occupations across generations (Ahmad & Shah, 2025).

With a population of 1.5 million, Srinagar district is the heart of the Kashmir Valley. In terms of education, the district has a literacy rate of 69.41% (males 76.25% and females 61.85%) (Census of India, 2011). According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus data of 2022, it comprises 969 schools, such as Government schools (554), private unaided recognised schools (404), unrecognised schools (6), Kendriya Vidyalaya schools (2) and Madrasa recognised schools by Wakf board/Madrasa board (3) (Government of India, 2022), distributed among eight educational zones. Our study is situated in two educational zones of Srinagar district, where the majority population of the sweeper community lives. The zones embody paradoxes of urban growth, with wealth and opportunities coexisting next to sites of marginalisation. The studies conducted on this community have provided a minuscule overview of their challenges and how these challenges impact their children and their educational trajectory in the urban context. This study explores this intended objective by placing students’, teachers’, and parents’ voices at the centre of the study through an ethnographic approach. For this ethnographic study, we concentrate on the Srinagar district, as an urban setting of the Kashmir division which has not received enough academic attention ethnographically and their schooling experiences are still absent in the literature from the urban context. So, using an ethnographic approach can give a holistic picture of the community under study and will be a new contribution to the existing literature particularly on urban education.

Methodology

Findings

Student Destitution: Engagement With Labour Work

In this study, we conducted home visits to meet students who had poor attendance at school and spoke with some who were absent for a long time. It has been observed that they are mostly involved in metalwork, and their sporadic school attendance is due to their commitment to support their families financially. Those students who have been found busy with metalwork, locally referred to as, “Naqash gaer kaeem,” have engaged other peers in a room of their house meant for karkhaan (enterprise; Figure 1). The convenience of engaging in metalwork within the domestic space, without fixed working hours or exposure to weather-related constraints makes such work particularly accessible to them. Such home-based enterprises operate as integral components of the local informal economy. The spatial proximity of these settlements to artisanal markets further facilitates the integration of children into urban production networks at an early age.

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Figure 1.

Engagement with metalwork

Azlan, an eighth-grade student, is a prime example in this context. He has been engaged in metalwork for the past 2 years, earning ₹750 per day by completing around 15 metal plates from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. His father is retired from the service of sanitation work, and his brother separated from his parents soon after marriage and is working as an auto driver. Azlan supports the entire financial burden for his family and occasionally goes to school. Teachers perceive his attendance as a privilege, welcome him warmly and acknowledge his challenges. However, he has been observed eagerly awaiting the end of the last class to return to his karkhaan. He seemed more interested in metalwork than in studies, as can be understood from his voice:

My main interest lies in metalwork, so I rarely open my books at home, and it is only at school that I bother to open them. Seeing my friends involved in metalwork, my interest in studies dwindled.

Kaisar, another student, portrays a more dismal image of his daily life. When we meet him, he has been found at the karkhaan with other children, including his brother, at his home. He has attended school three to four times in 3 months due to being over-busy with his metalwork. He starts his work at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. He earns approximately ₹40 to 50 per plate, completing around 10 plates daily, which fetches him around ₹400 to 500 per day. Despite his absence from school, Kaisar is content in his work, as he is surrounded by peers of the same age in the karkhaan.

When asked why you do not come to school, he boldly narrated in a loud voice while hammering the copper plate:

Teachers visited my home multiple times to encourage me to return to school. I am unable to attend because I am occupied with metalwork for financial purposes and other responsibilities. . . . I am not interested in studies; without interest, a student cannot survive in school.

Several other children also contribute to their families by assisting in their work. Yaseen, a seventh-grade student, has learned the metalwork skill from his brother. He has been engaged in this work for about 4 years, providing financial assistance to his father. He manages to visit the school on Fridays, which serves as his designated holiday from work. It allows him to maintain a connection with his school. While beating the metal plates, he expressed his intention to rejoin school. It reveals his commitment to education despite his involvement in metalwork.

I pay to my father 70% of what I earn and 30% for my pocket money. I earn around ₹9000 per month from this work. My father got some relief from my earnings.

The attachment to work and family responsibilities takes precedence over schooling, particularly in contexts where domestic spaces double as sites of economic activity. It shows a deep-rooted challenge in the sweeper community where financial stability is more important for daily life survival.

Intersection of Parental Labour and Education

This study has found that parents enrol their children in schools, but their availability to actively support in their education is limited by the temporal demands of urban labour arrangements. Many parents are engaged in the sanitation work and other forms of informal employment that require extended working hours and early morning shifts (Figure 2). Such work patterns, characteristic of the urban informal economy, significantly limit their availability for school visits or participation in their children’s academic activities. Most student participants shared that their parents seldom visit the school to monitor their progress. Their visits are more common during the admission process or grievance-related matters, with minimal involvement in routine academic monitoring. This limits parents’ to effectively monitor their children’s academic progress or assist them in school-related activities. Consequently, students experience difficulties in reading textual content, constructing meaningful sentences, performing basic arithmetic, memorising multiplication tables, and retaining subject-specific vocabulary. In the absence of home-based academic support, the responsibility often falls on teachers. Importantly, this shift does not mean a parental indifference attitude but is largely shaped by the demands of their labour conditions, which restrict their active engagement in their children’s educational processes.

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Figure 2.

Urban sanitation workers collecting solid waste

One example of evidence for this is given in the following dialogue with a teacher:

Altaf: I teach English, and today my topic was “Weather”. In this topic, my focus was to develop students’ vocabulary by introducing terms like sunny, cold, heat, scorching etc.

Researcher¹: Do students remember?

Altaf: I have seen among them that they have limited support at home, as a result, they forgot what I had taught them.

Researcher¹: Among whom is this problem more pervasive?

Altaf: This problem is found among all students up to the eighth class.

Researcher¹: What are its reasons?

Altaf: The main reason I found is that there is limited parental involvement in their academics.

Foundational literacy and numeracy have been found a grave issues among the students of the study. Some student participants have revealed their dismal condition in the following excerpts:

Ahmad: I find it really challenging to write a proper sentence. When I try, it feels like such a difficult task.

Jolly: Mathematics seems quite tough for me. Even basic calculations seem like a hurdle, which I struggle to overcome.

Kirat: The multiplication tables, particularly from sixth to ninth, are a big challenge for me. No matter how hard I try, I am unable to remember them, and it is frustrating.

Ahmad: I always wish I could do better in my studies, but it seems difficult for me. . . . I am making every possible effort, but I have not succeeded.

Additionally, this study has revealed that certain important aspects are lacking in the teachers’ approach. For instance, proactive engagement with students, rapport building, scaffolding, and remedial classes, essential for addressing students’ specific learning challenges has been found underutilised. Furthermore, the use of various teaching methods, aids, and innovative pedagogical practices is known to enhance learning experiences, but their application appears to be blurred.

Discussion and Conclusion

This study demonstrates how systemic inequality and structural forms of exclusion perpetuate the educational marginalisation of the sweeper community within urban context. Urban expansion, despite its developmental promise, continues to reproduce deep forms of marginalisation for many families and their children (Chudgar et al., 2025). In this study, poor housing conditions and economic precarity, rooted in historical caste based exclusion and sustained through urban informal labour arrangements have hampered children’s academic progress. The necessity of child labour as a survival strategy further reveals how capitalist exploitation in urban economic and social set up structures forces them into a cycle of poverty, depriving them of upwards mobility. These findings resonate with Freire (1970), who argues that marginalised groups experience an oppressive education system that reinforces their subordination rather than empowering them. Similarly, Willis (1977) highlights how working-class children often internalise economic struggles, pushing them towards labour instead of formal education. Most of the parents are engaged as sweepers (daily wagers) in SMC, and being daily wagers has brought many challenges in their lives due to the meagre source of income and low caste identity. Their meagre wages not only limit their ability to provide for their children’s education but also restrict their access to economic and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1998; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). This structural constraint perpetuates intergenerational disadvantage, keeping their children trapped in a similar cycle of deprivation. Similarly, Opel (2000) highlights that such low-paying, stigmatised jobs are deliberately maintained as part of a larger socio-economic hierarchy, ensuring that marginalised groups remain confined to exploitative labour markets. The economic crisis within these families is so severe that some children accompany their mothers to beg at shrines, an act that defines not only financial desperation but also the failure of social and institutional safety nets. As Abebe (2008) also found, poverty-induced begging is not merely an individual choice but a consequence of systemic exclusion and economic dispossession. The financial precarity of these families directly correlates with educational exclusion, child labour and academic underperformance, as seen in prior research studies (Ahmad et al., 2025; Bhandari & Mishra, 2023; Ferguson et al., 2007; Martey et al., 2022; Plug & Vijverberg, 2005). Education, which could serve as a pathway to mobility, instead becomes an unattainable privilege. The lack of parental cultural capital further entrenches this inequality, as studies indicate that parental education and exposure to institutional knowledge significantly shape children’s academic success (Crook, 1997; Rissanen, 2022; Stopforth & Gayle, 2022).

This study further reveals that the precarious living conditions of the sweeper community primarily residing in plank sheds are a material reflection of their socio-economic marginalisation. Their income-expenditure imbalance is not simply a matter of financial mismanagement but rather a structural constraint imposed by exploitative urban labour conditions and systemic economic and social exclusion. The inability to secure stable housing exacerbates multi-dimensional poverty, affecting not only their well-being but also the educational prospects of their children. Notably, teachers within the community have also observed a resigned attitude towards education, as many families perceive investing in their children’s schooling as an unviable economic decision rather than a pathway to mobility. This finding aligns with Chowdhury (2011), who documented that the average expenditure of sweeper households surpasses their income. Such economic precarity fosters a mindset where education is viewed as a financial burden rather than a long-term asset. This perspective challenges mainstream economic theories that emphasise saving as a means of social upliftment (Furnham & Argyle, 1998; Te’eni-Harari, 2016). Instead, it highlights how structural poverty renders saving an unattainable privilege for marginalised groups.

Additionally, this study has revealed that sweeping is a challenging and restless job dealing with all kinds of trash, and people usually abuse and complain to them. This job is considered the meanest and the lowest in the hierarchy of occupations. This job has been found full of shitte, slur, pain, fatigue and low wages. This nature of the job also lessens parental involvement in educational pursuits, and parents’ desire is that they do not want their children to engage with this job due to its nature. This finding can be aligned with the study conducted by Walters (2019), where he demonstrated that safai karamchari parents prefer their children to secure respectable jobs. The discriminatory nature and low wages of the job reinforced the people to think about better alternative occupations. This transformation has been found in this study, where every household that owns a Karkhaan in their homes is a form of resistance against caste-based labour. These home-based enterprises offer them transitory relief from the discriminatory identity and the stigma of sanitation work from upper class habitants. As a result, most students are engaged with metalwork and latticework as part-time jobs (on holidays and after school hours) to support their families financially. These two occupations are trending in their community because they do not have any weather or timing constraints. However, easily available occupations in the community put a heavy toll on students’ academic progress as they gradually stop their schooling and turn a part-time occupation into a full-time occupation. These students visit schools only on Fridays because this day is a holiday from their work (metalwork). Children and their parents have assumed that schooling does not lessen their poverty; instead, engaging in work can do. Poverty and child labour are positively correlated and have been found in India (Kaur & Byard, 2021; Sasmal & Guillen, 2015), Pakistan (Batool & Bilal, 2022) and rural Bangladesh (Shafiq, 2007).

Overall, this study highlights the recurring challenges the parents and their children face, emphasising the urgent need for comprehensive interventions to break this cycle and ensure equitable educational opportunities. Since children perform the metalwork with highly strong skills and perfection indicates that they are not suffering from lack of talent. They can be boosted through skill enhancement courses. They have little understanding about various schemes, scholarships and fellowships from government. As per the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 of India, “successful policies and schemes such as targeted scholarships, conditional cash transfers to incentivise parents” (Government of India, 2020, p. 25) are needed for the continuity of education. Furthermore, according to the NEP-2020, it is recommended that this particular community should be designated as a Special Education Zone to bring about a genuine transformation in their educational landscape, which is imperative for equitable educational opportunities and upwards mobility.