CONCEPT OF

EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY

DEFINITION
Equality
-ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make
the most of their lives and talents, and believing that no one
should have poorer life chances because of where, what or whom
they were born, what they believe, or whether they have a
disability.
(Equality and Human Rights Commission,2014).

Inequality
- an unfair situation in which some people have more rights or
better opportunities than other people.
( Merriam Webster, 2014).

Educational Inequality
- the difference in the learning results, or efficacy, experienced
by students coming from different groups. ( Merriam Webster,
2014).

FACTORS OF EDUCATIONAL
INEQUALITY

SOCIAL CLASS

Social class refers to a group of people with similar levels of

wealth, influence, and status.(CliffNotes,2015).
In Malaysia, the pupils are comprises of different social class -low,
medium and high.(Noriati, Ying, Sharifah Fakhriah, & Zuraidah,
2014).
Those who are from the low social class will face difficulties in
term of study costs and lack of learning facilities.
Whereas, those who are from the medium and high social class,
will experienced a broad educational opportunity as well as
supports from parents.

Low Social Class

- Have difficulty in paying the

Medium and High Social Class

- Less difficulty in finding the

schools fees, stationaries,

suitable learning equipment's,

school uniforms, co-curricular

paying the schools fees,

and curricular activities fees,

buying the school uniforms and

exercise books.

the curricular and co-curricular

- Gain very little attention from

parents in term of education.
- Lack of learning equipment.
- Very limited access to current
educational information.
- Easily discouraged and left
behind in studies.

activities fees.
- Gain maximum support from
parents in term of education.
- Well-equipped with learning
equipment's.
- Able to attend paid extra class
outside the schools.
- Easy access to current
educational information.

GENDER

Gender refers to the personal sexual identity of an individual,

regardless of the person's biological and outward sex.(Cherry,2015).
Gender refers to the socially-constructed roles of and relationships
between men and women. (IPSD,2014).
In most of the countries, gender discrimination is still significantly
exist.
For instance, in Cambodia, admission to secondary school is about
18% for women and 30% for men while in Papua New Guinea, the
amount is 21% for women and 27% for men. (UNGEI,2007).

 Women are given less opportunity in education because of the

belief that they should stay at home and do the house chores.
As in most Asian cultures, patriarchal institutions strongly exist in
Malaysia. In many areas, we are still living in a male-dominated
setting society. (Hooi, 2014).
Therefore, men are given a wider opportunity in education as
compared to women.
Other factors include a few aspects:
Safety
Gender bias in schools textbooks
Limited employment opportunities
Stereotyping of roles

 However, inequality in education does not faced only by women.

in countries such as Mongolia and Malaysia. the number of
women who go to secondary school has outnumbered the
boys(Noriati, Ying, Sharifah Fakhriah, & Zuraidah, 2014).
This shows that at certain point in education, men are not
receiving equal education as women too.
This is because, men frequently quit their formal studies and opt
for full time working as well as to accommodate the family
needs. (UNGEI, 2007).

MINORITY GROUP

Minority group is a sociological category that is differentiated,

defined, and often discriminated against by those who hold the
majority of positions of social power. ( Boundless, 2014).
In Malaysia, the Malays are the majority group while the
Chinese, Indians, Kadazan, Iban, Bidayuh and the Indigenous
People are the minority groups.
The Indigenous People is considered as a minority group
because their amount do not reach 141, 230 people and they
live in the rural area.

 They also differs from the other groups in term of physical,

culture, economic and lifestyles.
They are constantly left behind in education due to several
aspects :
Transportation
Schools location
Economic
Demography

These aspects causes them a difficulty to go to school or gain a

proper education.

 On the other hand, the minority groups in Sabah and Sarawak

are dealing with the educational inequality too.
These factors contribute a high dropout rates and students
achievement gap is large as compared to the other groups.
This is resulted from a few factors:
residence (rural area)
communications and transport
infrastructures
utilities
school supplies

 In addition, minority group also exist at schools like national school

and national-type school.
At national school, the minority groups would be the Chinese and
Indian pupils.
This is because, they are least in number compared to the Malays.
At national-type schools for instance, Chinese national-type
schools and Tamil national-type schools, the Malays are
considered as a minority groups.
Therefore, they will deal with several educational inequality as a
result from different races, culture and spoken language.

STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Students with special needs refer to the children who are
challenged intellectually, physically, spiritually, socially and
emotionally.
These students need a special attention and care from the
parents and teacher to ensure that they can cope with daily life.
In term of education, these students cannot be given the same
teaching styles or modules as the normal students.
This is because, their ability in comprehending a lesson is
limited and sometimes unpredicted.

 Without a proper teaching strategy from the parents and

teacher, they might not be able to accept a lesson.
They might take a longer time than a normal students to
understand a lesson.
They also require maximum help in order for them to
demonstrate a satisfying understanding towards certain lessons
at school.
Hence, most of them cannot achieve the targeted knowledge
and often left behind in education.

 Inequality in education among these students occur due to

limited fascilities that should be provided to assess their
learning.