Figure 1.--The photo was taken in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was published by a local newspaper in a report about the children from the city that attend school barefoot. The children seem upset about being photographed by the newspaper photographer, but we don't think it is because they are barefoot. That in India is quite normal.

The Indian attitude toward footwear for boys and girls as dar as we can tell was identical. Commonly footwear was up to the children. A few schools, mostly privzte schools, had rules about footwear and hosiery, but this was not very common. At most schools, it was up to the children and their parents. And as far as we can tell, a very large numbers of Indian children go to school barefoot. India created a public school system in the 20th century. Schools were founded during the Raj, but only with independence (1947> did India create a free public school sysdrem for all childre, even in the countrysude. Nurtully all these children came to school barefoot. Next to China it was the largest public school system in the world. India was a very poor country, both before and after the British Raj. In the 19th century, it was almost universal for children to go bsrefoot, even many adults went varefoot, esoeciallt women. There was not, as expected, a significant change after independence, primarily because of the socialist economic programsd adopted. India finally began adopting the same market (capitalist) reforms that proved so sucessful in the Asian Tigers and China (1990s). And finally we see India making real economic progress. We had thught that coming to school brefoot was a poverty indicator. But this does not seem to have been the case in India. Even though India hasd made real economic progress we still see children coming to school barefoot. As far as we can tell this was because the children prefered not to wear schools. This was understanable in the 19th century because footwear often did not fit well. But this was certainly not the case in ther 21st century. Which leads us to belive tht this is wehat the children preferred. Now of course this to some extrent may reflect the economic situation of the family, but many children clearly prefered to go barefoot. This probably relects overall patterns. Family finances may be a factor, but we see children from even families in confortable circumsances sending the children to school barefoot. India has made enormus progress since free market reforms were introduced (1990s), but we still see primary children coming to school barefoot. Gender does not seem to be a factor. Age was a factor. Going barefoot was very common in primary school. Footwear was more common in secondary school.

Footwear Types

The Indian attitude toward footwear for boys and girls as dar as we can tell was identical. Commonly footwear was up to the children. A few schools, mostly privzte schools, had rules about footwear and hosiery, but this was not very common. At most schools, it was up to the children and their parents. We do not yet have much information on Indian footwear. Very dew schools, even schools wih unifirm haveanby footwear ewquirement. Thee are differenbtv stylkes for boys abd girls, by=ur one styles ae worn by both.

Barefeet

As far as we can tell, a very large numbers of Indian children prefed go to school barefoot. A substantia; portion of the imgeswe have found show children, especilly promry-age children, coming to school barefoot. India created a public school system in the 20th century. Schools were founded during the British Raj, but only with independence (1947) did India create a free publoic school systm for all children, even in the countrysude. Virtually all the primary children came to school barefoot. We had thught that coming to school brefoot was a poverty indicator. But this does not seem to have been the case in India. Even though India hasd made real economic progress we still see children coming to school barefoot. As far as we can tell this was because the children prefered not to wear schools. This was understanable in the 19th century because footwear often did not fit well. But this was certainly not the case in ther 21st century. Which leads us to belive tht this is wehat the children preferred. Gender does not seem to be a factor. Age was a factor. Going barefoot was very common in primary school. Footwear was more common in secondary school. We had tyhought that thtr it was mostly chiukdren in rural res tht came to school barefoot. But as readers send us more Indian images, we find that many city children also come to school barefoot as we can see here (figure 1).

Prevalence

As far as we can tell, a very large numbers of Indian children prefed go to school barefoot. A substantial portion of the images we have found show children, especilly promry-age children, coming to school barefoot.

Chromology

India created a public school system in the 20th century. Schools were founded during the British Raj, but only with independence (1947) did India create a free publoic school systm for all children, even in the countrysude. Virtually all the primary children came to school barefoot. Next to China it was the largest public school system in the world. India was a very poor country, both before and after the British Raj. In the 19th century, it was almost universal for children to go barefoot, even many adults went varefoot, esoeciallt women. There was not, as expected, a significant change after independence, primarily because of the socialist economic programsd adopted. India finally began adopting the same market (capitalist) reforms that proved so sucessful in the Asian Tigers and China (1990s). And finally we see India making real economic progress.

Economic Circumtance

We had thught that coming to school brefoot was a poverty indicator. But this does not seem to have been the case in India. Even though India hasd made real economic progress we still see children coming to school barefoot. As far as we can tell this was because the children prefered not to wear schools. This was understanable in the 19th century because footwear often did not fit well. But this was certainly not the case in ther 21st century. Which leads us to belive tht this is wehat the children preferred. Now of course this to some extrent may reflect the economic situation of the family, but many children clearly prefered to go barefoot. This probably relects overall patterns. Family finances may be a factor, but we see children from even families in confortable circumsances sending the children to school barefoot. India has made enormus progress since free market reforms were introduced (1990s), but we still see primary children coming to school barefoot.

Gender

Gender does not seem to be a factor.

Age

ge was a factor. Going barefoot was very common in primary school. Footwear was more common in secondary school.

Community

We had tyhought that thtr it was mostly chiukdren in rural res tht came to school barefoot. But as readers send us more Indian images, we find that many city children also come to school barefoot as we can see here (figure 1).

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Created: 1:54 AM 2/27/2014
Last updated: 8:40 AM 6/17/2022