Megha

ABOUT ME

I am a PhD from Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. I have worked under the supervision of Prof. Minati Panda. In my M.Phil, I have intimately worked in the area related to the right to education act, 2009. Most pertinently, I have dealt closely with section 12 (1) (c) of the Act which seeks to provide 25% reservation to children blowing to Economically Weaker Section and Disadvantaged Group. Some of the theoretical underpinnings of Etienne Wenger’s Communities of Practice were incorporated in my research to understand the complex network of Social exclusion, Identity, the positioning of children belonging to reserved section and their participation in the classroom discourses. 

In my PhD, I worked on the government schools with an attempt to see how does social exclusion becomes a psychological reality for children coming from poverty. In the paradox of many constitutional amendments, a certain section of children fail to internalise the concept of childhood as childhood is socially constructed. In the case of children of poverty, the lens of school and society at large is always a deficit where poverty is often seen as a reason for their underperformance rather than seeing it as a structural issue. In my PhD, I used the theoretical machinery of Julia Kristeva’s Abjection and Theodor Adorno’s Critical Theory. 

Childhood, schooling and protection of children’s rights are the key areas of my specialisation. I can assure you that with my theoretical training along with my research experience with children from the field, I will honour this position with all my integrity. 

Apart from PhD experience, I have also worked closely with Heidelberg university under the project on active ageing for a year, and as a junior project fellow at CIET, NCERT.

SKILLS