Exploring Self-Esteem Disparities Through Inclusivity: A Comparative Study Of College Students In Kamrup Metro And Kamrup District Of Assam

Abstract

Considering the psychological notion of human beings, it is a basic need of an individual to be self-contentious which is empowered through an unconditional self-evaluation process called self-esteem. College life is a distinct period of expressing the self through identity formation and conceptualizing a worldview resulting in the evaluation of their inner consciousness and the external world. Co-curricular activities are essential elements of academic life that boost self-confidence by emphasizing inclusion and belongingness among students. However, lower caste students frequently experienced a feeling of exclusion in their educational institution or society while comparing them with upper caste. Therefore, the paper is an attempt to look into the level and difference of self-esteem among college students based on their caste and participation in co-curricular activities in Assam. The descriptive survey method was adopted where a sum of 80 undergraduate students from provincialized colleges of Assam were selected randomly. The study revealed that most of the students possessed moderate levels of self-esteem and a few of them possessed a low level of self-esteem but no students were found to have high self-esteem. Further, no significant difference in self-esteem among the college students based on caste and their participation in co-curricular activities was also explored.