Exploring Economic Determinants of Educational Participation: A Participatory Rural Appraisal of an Alternative Rural School

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-795-8_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Alternative education; Educational participation; Economic determinants; Participatory Rural Appraisal; Rural education; Inclusive education; Community engagement

Abstract

Educational participation in rural communities is shaped by a range of economic and social factors, including livelihood insecurity, poverty, migration, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to basic services. Alternative education systems have been recognized as significant tools for overcoming some of these obstacles and ensuring inclusive and flexible learning. This research study analyzes the economic factors determining educational participation in an alternative rural school located in Haryana, India, applying Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). Information was gathered from teachers and students through focus groups, community mapping, transect walks, and interaction with community members. Sampling involved purposive and convenience sampling. Data were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method, which helped recognize various themes associated with educational participation. Five main themes have come up from the results of the analysis; democracy, shared responsibilities, non-hierarchical learning, experiential learning and skills development, barriers to education due to structure and culture and the role played by the school as an institution of stability in the community. The results show that participatory democracy, teacher-student relations and experiential pedagogy promote student engagement and inclusion. On the other hand, persisting economic issues such as migration during particular seasons, livelihood insecurity, lack of good housing and sanitation, and gender roles in the society still affect student participation in schools. The results of this paper indicate that alternative education systems have the potential to counter the negative influence of economic adversity on individuals by fostering supportive and inclusive educational institutions which promote prolonged involvement in education programs. The implications of this research lie in the fact that it adds to our knowledge of the manner in which community-based educational programs react to structural inequities in rural areas.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Vasundharaa S. Nair
AU  - Finita G. Roy
AU  - Maanya Viswanath
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
TI  - Exploring Economic Determinants of Educational Participation: A Participatory Rural Appraisal of an Alternative Rural School
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Advancing Economics (ICAE): Redefining Growth: Integrating Economy Society and Sustainability for a Resilient Future (ICAE 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 4
EP  - 20
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-795-8_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-795-8_2
ID  - Nair2026
ER  -