3ll_SC

Gail Omvedt is quite clear that forces of capitalism have established nexus with the casteist forces. Caste assigns definite roles and occupa-tions to specific social groups. While in the vedic period, knowledge along with ritual practices were the preserve of the brahmins, the char-acter of the beneficiaries did not drastically change during the British period. In theory colonial schools were open to all. But given the limitedness of funding, it was the Brahmins and few other upper castes who monopolized the system. Others did not have both the money and the means to enter the gates of education. The story has repeated itself in the post colonial project of education. That is why in spite of a professed ideology of working towards an egalitarian social order, the capitalist and casteist forces have been determined to keep the unjust social order intact. Even in 1999 there is no major political party or a social movement attempting to win public support by taking radical steps to universalise primary education and provide greater access to higher education. The fact that only 6% of the relevant age group is in higher education and they do hail from the top 20% of India's socio-economic groups is a clear proof education in general and higher educa-tion in particular continues to be the preserve of upper castes and classes.- Globalization and the Changing Ideology of Indian Higher Education, Ambrose Pinto, Social Action, 01/10/2000, /eldoc/n00_/01oct00SOA.pdf

Enrolment levels amongst SC are low not only because the infrastructure provided is so dismal but also because in cases where education facilities are present; prejudiced teachers ensure that they break the already fragile morale of dalit students.

þ The progress of schooling among Dalit children (5-14 years) has been relatively poor compared to that of the general population. School attendance rates in rural areas in 1993-94 were 64.3% for dalit boys as compared to 74.9% for non-Dalit boys.
þ A total of 66.6% among Dalits dropped out in 1997-98 as compared to 60.5% for general population (Planning Commission 2001).
þ Non-school going children and drop out rates among Dalits are also more. A total of 49.35% Dalit students drop out at primary level, 67.77% at the secondary level and only 22.35% Dalit students cross the secondary education (ibid).

Discrimination against Dalits

Amartya Sen' s Pratichi Trust found in 2002 that "As far as primary education is concerned, villages with SC, ST and Muslim populations have less accessibility to primary schools." The report further specifies, "Caste feelings and biases were found to prevail in the villages of the three (survey) districts... in Purulia the degree was a bit higher. The degree of absenteeism of teachers was found to be higher in the SC and ST villages... The teachers also neglect the children from poor and less powerful backgrounds.''

The education system for the underprivileged Dalit is designed by the very people who have oppressed the Dalit. A new, fresh look at the various aspects of this education is overdue.
• Sangita is 14 and a manual scavenger in Gujarat. She dropped out of her village school, unable to bear the humiliation, when her teacher pushed her to the last bench, even though she ranked higher in the class. Many other scavenger children in her village also dropped out. Sangita, with tears in her eyes, told the camera crew making Lesser Humans, "I had dreams of becoming a doctor but all my dreams have been shattered." Another scavenger boy, barely eight years old complained, "Our teachers tell us to sit away. Are we not human beings?" Another boy intervened, "Our teacher asks us why we need to attend school at all."
• A note found on the dead body, cut into three pieces, of a 12-year-old scavenger community boy narrated how he was forced to commit suicide by falling in front of a train by the behaviour of a teacher bent upon suspending him from school. The boy, along with others, was caught playing with the teacher's scooter. The boy was the only one to be suspended. The teacher, after forcing his father to sign an apology note in the most humiliating manner, had told the boy, "Now I will see how you will study and further progress in life."

However, the worrisome part is an emerging trend whereby children belonging to different social backgrounds are attending different kinds of schools. In Andhra Pradesh, there is a divide between the government primary school (GPS) located in the Dalit basti and the GPS in the forward caste hamlet only SC students attend the former school, while the latter has very few SC students. The youth in the SC colony in the village categorically stated that even if children from the SC colony try to seek admission in the other GPS, they are discouraged and told to attend the school in their own colony.

The situation in Haryana was perhaps the starkest. While the village had a never equal ratio of SC to OBC and forward caste population, more than 90 per cent children in the government school are from the SC community and more than 90 per cent private school-going children from OBC and forward castes. Despite this high number, the proportion of forward caste girls is extremely low in all the schools partly because of a low sex ratio in the age-specific population of the village. The situation in the Karnataka village was marginally different as the government schools with much better facilities and enviable pupil teacher ratio have not yet been abandoned by children from relatively well-off communities. Interestingly, however, the leadership of the village education committee is actively promoting the fledgling private school!

To make matters worse the duality in the educational system has been a mockery. The rich and the wealthy manage to have the best of educa-tion in quality English medium schools which help them towards social mobility and to climb the ladder of success. The poor have to frequent single teacher schools with dilapidated school buildings where the teach-ers rarely make their way to the schools. It is no different at the level of higher education. The masses enrol in government colleges which im-part hardly any education and the elite class rushes to private institu-tions of repute. There is a wide gap between the two types of education. In a recent survey by "India Today" all the ten colleges considered as the best in the country have been in the private sector. The poor not only can't avail quality institutions, they are not affordable to them. A poor quality education is provided to the masses to tell them that they have equal opportunities when in reality that access to education provides no opportunities in life at all.

- Globalization and the Changing Ideology of Indian Higher Education, Ambrose Pinto, Social Action, 01/10/2000, /eldoc/n00_/01oct00SOA.pdf

Apart from the obvious discrimination faced by children from scheduled castes an additional factor that alienates them is the centralised school curriculum that never addresses issues that are central to their reality

Just adding more schools and teachers, even in the settlements of communities marked by low school participation, is insufficient since courses, language of instruction and pedagogic methods are more designed to suit children from a relatively higher class and caste strata. To break this vicious cycle, educational interventions not only need to be internally innovative, but also to attack the entrenched social discrimination that keeps specific groups and communities away from education. Unfortunately, large programmes, given their tendency to foreground homogeneity as also the ideology of national integration that insists that everyone should be treated similarly despite differences, invariably fail to design context-specific interventions. Let us not forget that the attempt by the Lok Jumbish programme in Rajasthan to work through madrasas and maulvis in the educationally deprived meo community areas was accused of fostering separatism.

Reports

Governments initiative to universalise elementary education
1.Different Approaches for Achieving EFA - Indian Experience, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 01/01/2003, R.N00.41,
- Education of SC/ST- pg 23-25

Education for social change amongst the SC
*2. Elementary Education for the Poorest and other Deprived Groups: The Real Challenge of Universalisation, Jha, Jyotsna & Jhingran, Dhir, Centre for Policy Research, 01/06/2002, R.N00.23,
- Edu and SC- pg 81- 107 pg 158-174
(scan pg 81)

Analysis and critique (on schemes and programmes)
3. India Education Report, Govinda, R, Oxford University Press, 01/01/2002, R.N21.G.1,
- Education For All- The Situation of Dalit Children in India- Geetha B Nambissan, Mona Sedwal Ch 6 pg 72-85

Statistics
4. Selected Educational Statistics 2002-2003 (As on 30th September, 2002), Government of India, 01/01/2004, R.N00.32

Government's policy on education towards SC
5. National Policy on Education 1986 - Programme of Action 1992, Government of India, R.N00.33,
- Education of SCand ST and other backward sections- Ch 2 pg 5-8

Statistics and present status of schemes and programmes
6. Ministry of Human Resource Development - Annual Report 2003-2004, Government of India, 01/01/2004, R. N00.30,
- Education of SC and ST- pg 34-36,
- Enrolment of SC- pg 262-263

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Books:

Education for social change amongst the SC
1. - Social Exclusion and Education, Salam, Jeebanlata, Indian Social Institute, 01/01/2004, B.N21.S4, Education of SC Tribal Education Education of Girls
- “Education in and Unequal Social Order” Ch 3 pg. 74-101 (scan)

Identity formation amongst SC
* 2. - Social Character of Learning, Kumar, Krishna, Sage Publication, 01/10/1919, B.N00.K5, 2. Education and Social Change, Education of Sc, Tribals and Edu, Identity formation – (scan)
- “Learning to be Backward” Ch3 pg. 59-77

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