Dalit students still face discrimination

Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule, prominent social reformists, firmly believed that education was the sole means to empower marginalised communities. B R Ambedkar, advocating ‘Educate-Organise-Agitate,’ emphasised education for the emancipation of women, minorities, and Dalits. Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), including IITs, MITs, AIIMS, NITs, and universities, have played a pivotal role in India’s economic, social, political, and cultural development. Despite affirmative action policies and legislation, caste-based hierarchical disparities persist, hindering access to universities even after 70 years of Independence.

While universities are diverse spaces where students and faculty bring their unique traditions and values, educational institutions risk perpetuating the caste system. Although students enter based on merit, it is the institutions’ responsibility to ensure equitable access and a conducive research environment. However, HEIs in India often fail to safeguard the rights of marginalised communities.

Dalit students face various forms of exclusion and caste-based discrimination in educational institutions across the country. While constitutional safeguards and legal protection for Dalits exist, caste-based discrimination has taken on new forms in the modern era.

Several reports and committees, including the Prof SK Thorat Committee (2007) and the Mungekar Committee (2012), have acknowledged the prevalence of caste discrimination and the exclusion of marginalised students on campuses. Dalit students often encounter a triad of discrimination forms: student-student relationships, supervisor-student relationships, and administration-student relationships. They are identified by their caste names and subjected to harassment and humiliation by their peers from dominant castes; by guides and supervisors in teaching, pedagogy, research assistance, and examinations. The administrative staff also contributes by delaying fellowships and other benefits.

Modern forms of discrimination and untouchability, including caste-based segregation of hostels and denial of library access, persist even in premier HEIs, including Hyderabad Central University (HCU), AIIMS, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Indian Institute of Management (IIM), and Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, which have witnessed untouchability and caste-based exclusion in action.

There is a significant underrepresentation of teaching faculty from marginalised communities, including Dalits, in HEIs. The majority of the teaching staff hails from dominant castes. The lack of representation of Dalits in administration and academics has led to humiliation, discrimination, and increased dropout rates among Dalit students. As per the 2019 data from the Ministry of Education presented in the Lok Sabha, out of 6,043 faculty members at 23 IITs, only 149 were from SCs and 21 from STs, which is less than 3% of the total faculty. Fifteen IITs did not have any ST faculty members. IIT Mandi did not have any SC faculty members. The figures at the 13 elite IIMs are more dismal. Out of 642 faculty positions, only four were SCs and one was an ST. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a more egalitarian composition of professors that represents all communities.

Another issue that compounds the misery of the marginalised is the plan to privatise higher education, where no reservation policy can be enforced. Higher education would become the sole bastion of the privileged and undermine the role of the State as a promoter of egalitarianism, and protector of marginalised sections. The unchecked commercialisation of education would mean that the State would be deliberately pushing the marginalised towards poverty, widening the divide and driving the marginalised towards menial jobs in a complex and competitive job market that is dominated by privileged castes.

The modern caste-based discriminatory practices on campuses have driven many Dalit students to suicide across the country. As reported in the Death of Merit documentary, Senthil Kumar (2008), Madari Venkatesh (2013), and Rohith Vemula (2016), PhD scholars from the University of Hyderabad (HCU), ended their lives due to caste-based discrimination. Similarly, M Srikanth (2007) from IIT-Bombay, Ajay S Chandra (2007) from IISc-Bangalore, Madhuri Sale (2010) from IIT-Kanpur, and Balmukundh Bharti (2010) from AIIMS-New Delhi ended their lives due to caste-based atrocities and exclusion.

To transform campuses into caste-less and class-less institutions, governments and higher education bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) should adopt and enforce stringent laws. There should be a special committee and cell to monitor the admission and examination process, which must include representatives of marginalised communities as members. Separate research grants should be introduced to encourage Dalit students to pursue higher education.

(Kumar is Head, Department of International Relations, Peace, and Public Policy, St Joseph’s University; Newman is Principal, St Joseph’s Evening
College (Autonomous), Bengaluru)