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153

Education of Ex-Untouchables (Dalits):
Plight of Human Rights Educationin Indian Schools
Abdulrahim P. VijapurAhuge corpus of human rights law has evolved since 1948 at both international and national law levels, which recognises the rights of every individual
without discrimination of any kind based on race, colour, descent, sex,
language, religion, and national or ethnic origin. The United Nations (UN) has
adopted more than one hundred human rights instruments during the past nearly
six decades. So far India has ratified or signed sixteen human rights treaties of theUnited Nations. Among these six are principal treaties that have special monitoring
bodies to supervise the domestic application of international obligations arisingfrom their accession. They are- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (ratified: 10
April 1979)- International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ratified:
10 April 1979)- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ratified: 3 December 1968).
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (ratified: 9 July 1993)- Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (signed: 14 October 1997)- Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified: 11 December 1992).
Most of these international human rights
documents not only provide a detailed catalogue of human rights to which everyone isentitled to enjoy but also categorically proclaimthat the principles of “equality” and “non-discrimination” constitute the dominant themesof the modern international human rights law.
(Vijapur, 1993).

The constitutional and statutory laws inIndia also establish a comprehensive list of
human rights. Many laws have been adopted
to remove discriminatory practices towards exUntouchables/Dalits.
I briefly discuss some of the constitutional
provisions of fundamental rights. Article 14of the Indian Constitution declares that the153154  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS“State shall not deny to any person equality
before the law or the equal protection of laws.”
Under Article 15, discrimination by the Stateon the grounds only of religion, race, caste,sex, and place of birth is proscribed. Keeping
in view the problem of Untouchability, Clause
2 of Article 15 further states that no person on
grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, orplace of birth shall be subject to any disability,
liability, restriction or condition with regard
to (a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, places of public entertainment; or (b) theuse of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads andplaces of public resort maintained wholly or
partly out of state funds or dedicated to theuse of the general public. Article 17 states that
Untouchability is abolished and its practice inany form is forbidden. The enforcement of any
disability arising out of “Untouchability” shallbe an offence punishable in accordance withlaw. To give effect to this provision, the Parliament enacted the Abolition of Untouchability(offences) Act, 1955, which was amended andrenamed as the Protection of Civil Rights Act,
1976 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beingsand forced / bonded labour practices. Article 24
provides that no child below the age of 14 shallbe employed in any factory or mine or engaged
in any other hazardous employment. Both these
Articles are significant for Dalits and tribals as
majority of bonded /child labor belongs to thesegroups. To address these problems the Bonded
Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976, and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
were enacted by Parliament. Article 25 (2b)provides that Hindu religious institutions ofa public character shall be thrown open to allclasses and sections of Hindus. This provision
is relevant as some sects of Hindus, especially ofhigher castes, used to claim that Dalits had noright to enter the temples. By the Constitution
Eighty–Sixth Amendment Act, 2002, right toeducation as a fundamental right was added in
the Constitution, which states, under Article

21A, that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age ofsix to fourteen years in such manner as the State
may, by law, determine. Prior to 2002, the rightto free and compulsory education of all children
up to the age of 14 was a non-justiciable right(Article 45).1
Notwithstanding the existence of national
and international human rights laws, the Dalitsof India are facing many socio-political disabilities. Their human rights are violated. They are
subject to many discriminations, subjugation,
deprivations and violence. They are not integrated into the mainstream Hindu society. The
affirmative action program for them has only
marginally changed their status. They are stillsocially and educationally disadvantaged. They
still experience the practice of untouchability byhigh caste Hindus. The purpose of this paper
is to understand the nature of discriminations
experienced by Dalits. What is Untouchability?
Is it practiced in educational institutions? Do
the curriculum and schoolbooks aim to eradicate
the evil practice of Untouchability? I explore theanswers to these and other related questions.

The Problem of Untouchability
In the title of this article, I use the word “ExUntouchables” to stress the point that the useof the term “Untouchables” is not appropriate
now, as the practice of Untouchability has beenlegally proscribed.
Untouchables are known by different names.
Mahatma Gandhi called them Harijan, childrenof God.2 Religious books of the Hindus called
them Sudras; Ambedkar called them “depressedclasses”. However since 1970 the term “Dalit”
has been widely used. Dalit is a Marathi word,
first used by Mahatma Jotiba Phule, a 19th century social reformer who led a movement for
the upliftment of Untouchables, which means“broken people.” In official documents they aredesignated as the Scheduled Castes (SCs).
In no part of the world has so much injusticeEducation of the Ex-Untouchables (Dalits): Plight of HRE in Indian Schools  155

and systematic discrimina­tion been done to aparticular group of people for thousands ofyears as that in India with regard to the ex-Untouchables/Dalits. Curiously, the bases of thisdiscrimination were not religion, language, sex
or colour, which normally constitute the common grounds for discriminatory treatment inmost parts of the world. Rather it was “caste”
or “birth”, which is unique.
No doubt India has a rich and glorious
cultural legacy to feel proud of. But it should
be noted that nowhere in the world we find theextent of discrimination that is perpetuated by
one group of people against the other, as it isdone in case of low caste Untouchables by thehigh caste Hindus in India. Caste system is aunique feature of Indian life. It is believed thatoriginally there were only four broad/maincastes -- the Brahmins (the priestly class), theKshatriyas (the warrior class), the Vaisyas (themerchant and peasant class), and the Sudras(the Un­touchable class). But over the last two
thousand years, these four castes have been
astronomically sub-divided into thousands ofcastes and sub-castes. The 1901 census revealed
that there were two thousand three hundred andseventy eight “main Castes” and tribes in India.
The official list of “scheduled castes” preparedby the then British authorities of the Government of India in 1935 contained four hundred
twenty nine Untouchable castes.
According to Dhamasutras (religious books),
because Sudras were born from the feet of the
Universal Soul Brahma (God), they were destined
to serve the three upper castes/varnas born from
His mouth (Brahmins), arms (Kshatriyas),and thighs (Vaisyas). (Yamazaki 1997, 4). The
hymns of Rigveda justified the hierarchicalsystem of social orders saying that all these fourorders represent the Creator, Brahma. It is believed that from the Lord’s “mouth” were born
the Brahmins, so they became a priestly class;from His “arms” were born the Kshatriyas, sothey became warriors; from His “thighs” wereborn Vaisayas, and they performed ordinary
work, like business or agriculture; and from

His “feet” the Sudras were born and so they
performed the dirty work of scavenging, disposing of dead animals or unknown human bodies.
The Untouchables were told by the rules ofreligious books that if they accept their positionin life without questioning and by doing theirassigned duties they become eligible to be bornin the next life in a high caste. They were also
told that because of the sins they committed inprevious life, they were born in Untouchable
castes. In this way a system of hierarchical order
was created which survives even today. In fact,
it is the longest surviving apartheid-like systemof exclusion in the world.
The old Hindu law prevented Untouchablesfrom reading/reciting the Veda (religious book)or participating in the Veda religious ceremoniesof the Brahmins/Aryas. Accordingly,
If a sudra intentionally overhears the Veda chants,
he shall have his ears filled with molten tin anddark-red pigment. If a sudra dares to recite thechants himself, he will have his tongue cut out;
and if he learns the chants by heart, his body shallbe split in twain. (Yamazaki 1997, 5)Thus, traditionally Sudras/Dalits were excluded from engaging themselves in reading
and learning profession and participating inAryan religious customs and ceremonies. Thereis more to it. Many other disabilities and restrictions were imposed on them. For instance, any
Dalit male who had had sexual relations with a
Brahmin woman would be punished by “having
his penis severed and his wealth confiscated,
and if the woman has a husband or patron ofsome kind, these above two punishments will
be followed by death”. (Yamazaki 1997, 6).
Another scholar (Zinkin 1962, 59) cites a rulefrom scriptures, which stated:

If he assumes a position of equality with highcaste men, either in sitting, or going along theroad, he shall receive corporal punishment. A
Sudra commit­ting adultery with women of thefirst three castes shall suffer capital punishment,or shall be burnt alive tied up with straw... if a
Sudra intentionally reviles a Brahmin or crimi-

156  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

nally assaults him; the limb with which he offends
shall be cut off.

Manusmriti, the Hindu legal code, too
contains similar kind of provisions. There aremany provisions set down for the purpose of
excluding Dalits from places of worship. Regarding marriage between Brahmin men and
Dalit women, the Manusmriti pronounces,“from the moment of consummation they andall their progeny shall forever be of the sudra
varna” or “be damned to hell.” Heavy punishments, including sentences of death, were to bepronounced for sudras violating the rights ofhigher varnas, and the king was strictly directed“to ensure that sudras stay in a servile position(dasya) to the Brahmins.” At another place, it
is stated that “Neither an Untouchable, nor apig, a cock, a dog, a menstruating woman, or
an impotent man should be watching the priests
dine.” (The Laws of Manu, 1991: Chapter 3,239). “The dwellings of Untouchables andDog-Cookers should be outside the village;
they must use discarded bowls, and dogs, anddonkeys should be their wealth.” (The Laws ofManu, 1991: Chapter 10, 51). The next verse
stated, “Their clothing should be the clothes ofthe dead, and their food should be in broken
dishes; their ornaments should be made ofblack iron, and they should wander constantly.”(Ibid.) “They should carry out the corpuses ofpeople who have no relatives; this is a fixed rule”(Ibid., Chapter 10, 55). “They should take forthemselves the clothing, beds, and ornamentsof those condemned to death.” (Ibid., Chapter
10, 56). Rule 176 of Chapter 11 says “If a priest
unknowingly has sex with untouchable womenor very low caste women, eats (their food) or
accepts (gifts from them), he falls if knowingly,
he becomes their equal.” (Ibid.)
In principle, marriage was permitted within
one’s own caste. This rule was often broken,
but any Brahmin male who took a Sudra to be
his wife would become the object of particularscorn. If a Brahmin male had only one wife andshe was of Sudra status, he would be considered

to be in a state of ritual impurity and would
be forbidden to attend family ceremonies likesradha (rites for the dead) ancestor worship. On
the other hand, any Sudra male who approacheda Brahmin female, behaved like a Brahmin caste,or did any harm to a Brahmin person would be
subject to serious punishment, sometimes evendeath. (Yamazaki 1997, 5)
Despite the above principles of discrimination concerning sudras, the Manusmriti, likethe Dharmasutras, has provisions for making
compromises with reality. There are purification
rites for those polluted by contact with Sudras,
conditions under which food cooked by Sudras
may be taken, cases in which marriage to Sudra
women can be permitted, and exceptions to therules in times of distress, like “a Brahmin in distress may take alms from anyone”, and “whenlife is endangered, it is permitted to take foodfrom anyone”. (Yamazaki 1997, 9).
For centuries, and even now, these Untouchable castes have been subject to various restrictions in their movements or relationships withother people, especially the high caste persons.
They still face many social disabilities, like denialor restriction of access to public facilities suchas wells, schools, roads, post offices and courts;
denial or restriction of access to temples where
their presence might pollute the deity as wellas the higher caste worshippers; and from resthouses, tanks and shrines connected to temples.
They have been denied access to services suchas those provided by barbers, laundrymen, restaurants, shops and theatres, and are required
to use separate utensils and facilities within suchplaces. They face a lot of restrictions on style oflife, especially in the goods indicating comfort
or luxury. Riding on horseback, use of bicycles,
umbrellas, footwear, the wearing of gold andsilver ornaments (in fact, their abject poverty
could never afford them to do so), the use ofpalanquins to carry bridegrooms were all forbidden for these people. Traditionally, they wererequired to have their homes/huts constructed
outside the village and quite away from the highcaste families; this practice is followed even now

Education of the Ex-Untouchables (Dalits): Plight of HRE in Indian Schools  157

in almost all villages. This segregation is believed
to have a divine sanction. While the touch of ananimal was not considered polluting, the verysight of an Untouchable was enough to pollute and called for the performance of special
cleansing ceremonies. Domestic and agricultural
animals could live and eat in the same housewith high caste Hindus but the Untouchables
could not even live in the same town. For manyorthodox Hindus the cow dung is ritually so“clean”, that a Brahmin priest will use it to wash
away his impurities. Even now untouchability
continues to be widely prevalent and is practiced
in one form or another in most of the villages inIndia. This fact has been empirically establishedby a recent study of Action Aid India. (Shah,et al. 2006)

Human rights education
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) declares under Article 26 (2) that:
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to thestrengthening of respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,racial or religious groups… (Italics mine).

Besides the UDHR, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is significant in the context
of Dalit rights. The Committee on Eliminationof Racial Discrimination (CERD), the monitoring body of this treaty, in its interpretationof Article 1 of the Convention in General
Recommendation XXIX stated that “discrimination based on ‘descent’ includes discrimination against members of communities basedon forms of social stratification such as caste
and analogous systems of inherited status.”3
Furthermore, in its Concluding Observations
on the reports submitted by India in 1996,
the CERD affirmed, “that the situation of the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes falls

within the scope of the Convention.” (Reportof the CERD, A/51/18, 1996, para. 352). Thus,in view of these positions taken by CERD,
Article 7 of the Convention is relevant to the
Dalit issue and human rights education. Under
this Article “States Parties undertake to adopt
immediate and effective measures, particularlyin the fields of teaching, education, culture andinformation, with a view to combating prejudiceswhich lead to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendshipamong nations and racial or ethnical groups....”(italics mine)
The first International Congress on the
Teaching of Human Rights held at Vienna in
1978 elaborated this point by inter alia stating that “human rights education must aim at
fostering the attitudes of tolerance, respect andgoodwill towards fellow human beings”, andthat teaching about human rights is a continuing process and shall embrace all levels of theeducational system—from primary school touniversity level, to professional education as wellas out-of-school or university settings.
It must be recognized that a progressive realization of human rights is dependent, and also
possible to a large extent, on the popular awareness of and support for universally accepted
human rights norms/standards. Although theimportance of the teaching of human rights at
all levels of education cannot be underestimated,teaching them at primary and secondary levels
is most significant as the children develop theirideas, beliefs, attitudes, biases, and prejudicesabout other peoples, cultures and religions
during these stages of education. Therefore, theobjective of human rights education at theselevels of schooling should not be to burden thestudents unnecessarily with specific texts ofhuman rights but to focus on inculcating an attitude of self-esteem, respect for ideas and beliefs
of other people and plurality of culture and of
fostering an attitude of tolerance and removalof prejudices. (Saksena 1999, 282).

158  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

Dalits and the right to education
Education is one of the important means of
reducing ignorance and inequality in society. It
helps the individual to raise one’s social status
in various ways. Knowledge, skills, values, andattitudes acquired through education help one
to lead a desired quality of life. Knowledge andeducation must be made available to all. As Dr.
Ambedkar, the great Dalit leader and chief architect of the Indian Constitution had said,

In the complex world man lives at his peril andhe must find his way in it without losing his
freedom. There can, under these circumstances,
be no freedom that is worthwhile unless the mind
is trained to use its freedom. Deprive a man ofknowledge and you will make him inevitably theslave of those more fortunate than himself… deprivation of knowledge is denial of the power touse liberty for great ends. An ignorant man may
be free …but he cannot employ his freedom so as
to give him assurance of happiness. (Ambedkar
1987, 39).

The roots of educational deprivation ofDalit communities must be traced back to theirposition as Untouchables in the caste structureof traditional Hindu society. These were themost polluted of castes that were hereditarily
assigned the most defiling of occupations. As
per 2001 census, India’s Dalits numbered 167.2
million. There is a sizable population among
the Muslims and Christians who are known as
Dalit Muslims (roughly estimated at forty two
million) and Dalit Christians (roughly estimatedat sixteen million). Dalit Muslims and Dalit
Christians are not treated as Scheduled Castes
by the government, though they experience
Untouchability from their coreligionists, andare therefore not entitled to positive discrimination policies. On the other hand, Dalits whoare converted to Sikhism and Buddhism do not
face such deprivation.
The 1961 census revealed that only ten
percent of Dalits were literate. Sixty years after independence the situation has marginally

improved. Low literacy rates for Dalits are aclear indication of the ways in which the school
system fails Dalit children. The 2001 population
census shows that literacy rate among Dalits
is 54.70 percent compared to 68.81 percent
among others. There are many reasons forthis sorry state of affairs. I discuss some of thereasons below.

Access to schools
Poor accessibility of schools is one of theimportant factors for low literacy among Dalits.
By 1997, India had as many as 598,000 primaryand 177,000 upper primary schools. However,easy access schooling has always been relatively
poorer for the Dalits as compared to the population in general, especially in rural areas. A study
by National Council of Educational Research
and Training (NCERT) reveals that schooling isavailable within a significantly smaller numberof predominantly Dalit habitations (37.03 percent) as compared to general rural habitations(49.79 percent). With regard to upper primaryschools, access within Dalit habitations is lower(6.51 percent) as compared to general rural
habitations (13.87 percent). (NCERT 1998,
cited in Nambissan and Sedwal 2002, 76)
Very few studies on social accessibility ofschools are available. Aruna (1999, 1011-1014)
in her study of Tamil Nadu, a south Indianstate, refers to “qualitative dangers” to schools
and says that “in many habitations, the school
is situated in localities inhabited by upper castes
who are hostile to students belonging to thelower castes and minority groups”. Ramaiah’s
observations of a village, Akramesi, in Tamil
Nadu where Dalits form a small minority havedisturbing implications for social accessibilityof schools:
None of the Scheduled Castes were allowed towalk through the residential areas of dominantcastes or through the village’s main street running
through the residential areas of the dominantcastes. They had to walk a long way along theEducation of the Ex-Untouchables (Dalits): Plight of HRE in Indian Schools  159

periphery of the village to reach their huts. (Cited
in Nambissan and Sedwal 2002, 77)

According to the Sixth All India Educational Survey conducted by NCERT (1998),
Dalit communities mainly avail of government
schooling. Of the Dalit children in primaryschools, 91.3 percent in rural areas and 64.6
percent in urban areas were in schools managed
by state government and local bodies (municipalities or corporations). Many of these schools
are plagued by various problems such as lack ofbasic infrastructure, classrooms, teachers, andteaching aids. Dilapidated buildings, leaking
roofs and mud floors appear quite common inschools and provide a depressing atmospherefor children. Teaching aids, apart from blackboards, are relatively absent. The conditions of
the schools can be quite appalling as seen in thisdescription of a school for Dalit girls: “…theenvironment of this institution was reported
to be very dirty as the ground was swampy
and there were cow-dung heaps and firewood
stocked all over.”4 There is also the problem ofabsenteeism of students and teachers, etc. Thus
Dalit children do not have access to quality
education. They also face discrimination anddiscouragement from higher caste community
members who perceive education for Dalits asboth a waste and a threat. Their hostility towards Dalits’ education is linked to the perception that Dalits are not meant to be educated,
are incapable of being educated, or if educated,would pose a threat to village hierarchies andpower relations. (Vasavi, et al. 1997, 3184).
Discrimination by teachers towards Dalit
children is commonly found in many schools.
Teachers have been found to maintain discriminatory attitudes and practices that underlie
caste relations in society. B.K.Anitha’s study
in Karnataka revealed that Dalit pupils werecalled ‘Kadu-jana’ (forest people) who would
not learn without being beaten. (Anitha 2000).
Anitha’s research on classroom processes in
Tumkur district of Karnataka also found that theschool day was significantly shorter in schools

in the Dalit concentrated villages as comparedto the other schools studied. This was mainly
because; “A majority of these teachers do notstay in the village and belong to the dominantcastes, displaying a distinctive negative attitude
towards the education of children of low castes.”(Anitha 2000, 195) In their study in Rajasthan,
Jabbi and Rajlakshmi, found that fear of teachers and corporal punishment are factors thatparents (especially of Dalit Children) cite as
constraining regular school attendance. (Jabbi
and Rajyalakshmi 2001). Kancha Illaiah (1996)
refers to his own teachers of higher castes inschool who always used to say that “If he wasa Brahmin he hated us and told us to our facesthat it was because of the evil time—becauseof kaliyuga, that he was being forced to teach‘Sudras’ like us.”

Segregation in schools
Dalit children’s right to education free fromdiscrimination is constantly undermined by
the treatment they receive in school. Teachersmaintain and impart discriminatory attitudes intheir classrooms, forcing children to sit in theback of the room, segregating Dalit children
from non-Dalits during lunchtime, forbidding
non-Dalit children from sitting next to Dalit
children or touching their plates, expressly
limiting Dalit student participation in class,subjecting them to verbal abuse and gradingthem unjustifiably low marks.5 Sometimes, theirteachers often subject Dalit children to corporalpunishment. Instances of Dalit students being
made to sit/eat separately, their copies /slates
not being touched by higher caste teachers, andchildren themselves not being touched are commonly reported. Like Dalit students, even Dalit
teachers are segregated from non-Dalit teachersin accessing food and water during lunchtime.
Discrimination against Dalit teachers at times
turns violent. In December 2005, members ofthe dominant caste who could not accept thefact that their children were being taught by160  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

a Dalit assaulted Satyanarayan Prasad, a Dalit
teacher, in a village in Bihar. When the teacher
attempted to lodge a complaint with the police,
the police termed the incident as “insignificant”.
(CHR & GJ and HRW 2007, 66).
Biased attitudes of high caste teachers
towards Dalit students are well documented.
As the UN Special Rapporteur on the right toeducation noted in his report before the 67th
session of the then-Commission on Human
Rights, “teachers have been known to declarethat Dalit pupils ‘cannot learn unless they arebeaten’”. (E/CN.4/ 2006/45, paras. 84-85).
Noted journalist, Sainath, reported that inRajasthan, one of the twenty eight states ofIndia, children of the Balmiki (traditionallyscavengers) caste, seen as most polluting ofcastes, “are made to sit on their own mats,often outside the room or at the door”. (Cited
in Nambissan and Sedwal 2002, 81) Anotherstudy documented some of the discriminatory
practices against Dalit children in schools of Uttar Pradesh such as discrimination against Dalit
settlements in the location of schools; teachers
refusing to touch Dalit children; children fromparticular castes being special targets of verbal
abuse and physical punishment by the teachers
and low caste children frequently being beatenby higher caste classmates. (Derez and Gazdar
1996: 85).
One of the important policy recommendations in this regard is that Dalits are recruited asteachers in proportion to their representation in
the population. Contrary to popular perceptionthat the fifteen percent of Dalits are recruited asteachers (as it is the government policy to provide fifteen percent job reservation to Dalits),
the NCERT study (1998/99) reveals that Dalits
comprise only around eleven percent of teachers
at primary stage, nine percent at upper primarystage, and five to six percent at secondary andhigher secondary stages of education. Thisimplies that non-Dalit teachers, usually higher
castes, by and large teach Dalit children. If fifteen percent of the teachers at all stages of primary and secondary education are Dalit teachers

the situation of biased attitudes of teachers ofhigh castes will be minimized. Moreover, theirpresence can act as deterrence to the incidents
of discrimination and segregation.
Studies also suggest that the formation ofpeer groups is influenced by caste status ofchildren and friendships are formed mainly
within the boundaries of caste membership. In
one of the government schools that Rekha Kaul
studied, children

complained that though prejudices and discrimination were not practised very openly in theclassroom and the peer group appeared friendly
in school, outside the school attitudes changed.
Children of upper castes did not invite the Kuruba
or Dalit children home for playing and there wasno social intermixing outside the school. (Kaul
2001, 158)

Thus, it can be concluded that these practicesof segregation in schools and discrimination
serve to discourage and alienate Dalit children,
contributing to their high dropout rates. In fact,
such practices serve to instil and reinforce Dalit
children’s sense of inferiority, erode their senseof personal dignity and force them to internalize
caste distinctions. Also, such segregations perpetuate “Untouchability” practice by teaching
the non-Dalit children that “Untouchability”
is both an acceptable and necessary practice. It
must be noted that such practices are in breachof international human rights norms. They
violate Article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, as under this provision theStates Parties agree to undertake to prohibit
and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its
forms and to guarantee the right of everyone,
without distinction, notably in the enjoymentof various legal, political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights (among others, right toeducation and training) and the right of accessto any place or service intended for use by thegeneral public, such as transport, hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks. In 1997, the
Human Rights Committee of the UN expressedEducation of the Ex-Untouchables (Dalits): Plight of HRE in Indian Schools  161

its serious concern on caste discrimination andnoted that scheduled castes “continue to endure
severe social discrimination in India underthe [ICCPR], inter alia inter-caste violence,bonded labour and discrimination of all kinds”.
It regrets that the de facto perpetuation of thecaste system entrenches social differences andcontributes to these violations. The Committee also recommended that further measures
be adopted, including educational programs at
national and state levels to combat all forms of
discrimination against these vulnerable groups,
in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1 and26 of the International Covenant on Civil andPolitical Rights.6 And as recently as 2004, theCommittee on the Rights of the Child was“deeply concerned at persistent and significant
social discrimination against children belonging
to Scheduled Castes and Tribes.” (CRC/C/15/
Add.228, 2004).

Low enrolment and high dropout rates ofDalitsAs a result of discriminatory treatment, large
number of Dalit children drop out of school,especially in the early primary stages. According
to the 2002 India Education Report, school attendance in rural areas in 1993-1994 was 64.3
percent for Dalit boys and 46.2 percent for Dalit
girls, compared to 74.9 percent among boys and61 percent for girls from other social groups.
(Nambissan and Sedwal 2002, 74) According
to a recent report of the National Commission
for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, “the drop out
rate in Scheduled Castes during 1990-91 was
as high as 49.35 percent at primary stage and67.77 percent at middle stage and 77.65 percent
at secondary stage”. It is interesting to notethat due to increased interest in education andmobility the enrolment of Dalit children has
increased over the years. For instance, during
1999-2000 the enrolment of Scheduled Casteand Tribes boys and girls reached an astonishing 92 percent. But it is regrettable to note thatthe drop out rate among them was alarming.
According to a report of the Commission thenational drop out rate among Dalit children is
36.6 percent at primary, 59.4 percent at middle
and 73.1 percent at secondary level of education. (NCSCST, 1999-2000 & 2000-2001,
151- 183; 177).

Mid-day meal scheme and caste
discrimination
As an incentive to increase the enrolment ofchildren from marginalized communities various policies/schemes were initiated, such as free
distribution of textbooks and uniforms and the
Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MMS).
The incentive scheme of free distribution of
textbooks and uniforms has no doubt improved
school attendance and enrolment, as textbooks
and uniforms are a major component of school
costs. However, it must be noted that not all
primary schools in the country were covered by
the scheme. The NCERT study (1998 / 1999)
documents that in 1993 only 54.6 percent ofprimary schools were covered by the schemeof free textbooks and barely 10 percent ofDalit students were beneficiaries. While 29.3
percent of schools received free uniforms, anegligible 4.6 percent of Dalit students werecovered under this scheme. Mid-day meals werereported to cover 13.9 percent of schools, andbarely 3.9 percent of the Dalits benefited. Many
studies have also pointed out that children do
not receive incentives in time, and often do notreceive them at all. Irregularities and delays in
distributing textbooks and uniforms and otherincentives as well as corruption have left little
impact on these marginalized communities.
(Jabbi and Rajyalakshmi 2001, 435).
The MMS was initiated in 1995, as a meansof addressing hunger and malnutrition among
schoolchildren, following a Supreme Court
order. As a result of Public Interest Litigationon the right to food, the Supreme Court ofIndia directed State Governments and Union

162  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

Territories to implement a scheme providing
every child in every government and government-aided primary school with a preparedmid-day meal.7 However, according to a study
conducted by Indian Institute of Dalit Studies(New Delhi) the States of Uttar Pradesh andBihar—where a third of India’s Dalits live—haverefused to implement the MMS. (Lee and Thorat 2005). This study points out that in many
places MMS has been shelved because of upper
caste community opposition; upper castes havealso opposed the employment of Dalit cooks forthe program. Where the MMS is in place, Dalit
students’ access to food has been restricted. In
many places, the MMS has been organized in ahigher caste locality, away from the Dalit habitation. In two places in Tamil Nadu, the meals
are provided in a temple, “raising immediate
questions of exclusion for Dalit children, who
are forbidden entry into temples, as well as nonHindu children.” In October 2006, an article inIndian Express quoted a primary school student,
Shailesh Solanki, as follows:8
we are not allowed to sit with children of the othercastes. We are always asked to sit separately. This isdone every time we are served food at noon. Even
the food served to us is less in quantity.

Objections to the segregation of Dalit
students in the MMS have been dealt withpunitively. For instance, in December 2003,
a school district in Gujarat transferred seventeachers out of the district for objecting to thissegregation.9
Similar stories of segregation or discrimination can be found from other parts of India.
Some instances are documented here. As per areport in The Hindu10 in a Government primaryschool at Kontur in Medak district of Andhra
Pradesh, thirty eight of the forty six students
who were supposed to stay for mid-day meal
reportedly leave the school without touching
the food as it was cooked by two Dalit women.
Only fourteen Dalit students eat at the school.
On 10 September 2004, The Pioneer11 reported
that the upper caste parents refused to allow

their wards in Pooran-Kheri village in Shivpuri
district in Madhya Pradesh to eat the mid-day
meal in school. The school authority had tomaintain a separate kitchen for the school children belonging to the Dalits and the tribals. The
Dalit women have been prevented from getting
the job of cooks in schools under MMS becauseof their caste. In Kendrapara district of Orissa,
the school authorities allegedly turned away
Dalit women who were applying for the job ofcooks in schools under MMS for fear that upper
caste students might not take the food cooked
by Dalits. This is contrary to the government
directive for recruitment of women preferablyfrom Dalits and tribals in about 1,420 primaryschools in the district.12 The National Human
Rights Commission in December 2005 issued anotice to the district administration for not appointing Dalit women as cooks in schools.13

Dalits and Curriculum
The treatment of the caste system in textbook and curriculums suggest that the official
curriculum barely acknowledges the existenceof Dalit and tribal communities, despite thefact that they form nearly a quarter of India’s
population especially at the district and local
levels in many States in the country (Kumar
1989). Recounting his own experiences ofschooling, Illaiah (1996) also reveals that Dalit
and lower caste children are alienated from thelanguage and course content as both the content
of education and the medium through which itis transacted do not relate to their own culturalexperiences.
The treatment of caste discrimination in textbooks and curriculums can strengthen caste division and prejudice. For instance, a report by the
Mumbai-based non-governmental organization
KHOJ found that even progressive curriculums
either exclude any mention of caste discrimination or discuss the caste system in a way thatsuggests that caste inequities and discrimination
no longer exist.14 Not only that the school text-

Education of the Ex-Untouchables (Dalits): Plight of HRE in Indian Schools  163

books may fail to mention caste discrimination,
but also some of them may even attempt tojustify the origins of caste discriminations. The
Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE)
sub-committee on “Regulatory Mechanisms
for Textbooks and Parallel Textbooks Taught
in Schools Outside the Government System”,
found that a Social Studies textbook approved
for use by the Gujarat State Board, is shocking
as it describes the caste system as a “preciousgift” given by the Aryans to the world and extols
the virtues of the caste system for socially andeconomically organizing society on the basisof labour. The CABE sub-committee further
added that school textbooks might attribute theunequal situation of Dalits to their “ignorance,
illiteracy and blind faith… because they still
fail to realise [the] importance of education inlife.”15
The transaction of the conventional curriculum in rural schools is a far cry from one
that, according to a NCERT study (2000, 11),“encourages exploration, problem solving…
participatory…interactive group learning….”A
recent study16 by Bodh of schools in the villagesof Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (a number ofthem predominantly inhabited by lower castes
and tribes) reveals that curriculum transaction
continues to be primarily textbook-based, directed by the teacher and dominated by rotelearning. The boundaries between school andcommunity knowledge are rigidly drawn withthe textbook serving as the only source of “legitimate knowledge”. Teachers rarely relate to
the knowledge base of children.
There is another systemic problem in the
Indian educational system. The authority of theteacher is unquestioned and children usually ask
no questions, or are not encouraged to do so,even to clarify their doubts. Children listen to
the teacher, copy lessons, memorize them andanswer questions.17 In single- and two-teacher
schools that predominate in the more backward
regions, the situation is compounded as teachers
are confronted with teaching children of many
grades together, a situation that their training

least prepared them for. They evolve their own
coping strategies such as huddling children of
two or more grades into one classroom, keeping students busy with writing work, and using
punishment to maintain discipline. Learning
becomes a casualty in the process. (Nambissan
2000).
School processes and experience of education in Indian schools for Dalit students havenot produced good results. Their performanceand achievement is relatively poorer in competencies such as mathematics and language whencompared to children in general. Assessment ofchildren carried out during the DPEP baseline
studies in 1993 showed that18
Scheduled caste students performed less than all
students in mathematics in five of eight states
and language in six of eight states, with the difference greater than 25 per cent of a standard
deviation for mathematics in Haryana, Karnataka
and Kerala and for language in Karnataka, Kerala
and Orissa.

Concluding observations and the way
forward
The foregoing discussion on the problemof schooling of Dalit children in India reveals
that the students from these communities havebeen facing discrimination of various kinds,
despite the fact that such forms of discrimination are outlawed both in national law andthe international law of human rights. Theyexperience discrimination and restrictions in accessing schools, and getting mid-day meals, freetextbooks and uniforms. They are segregated inclassrooms and during mid-day meals. Theirteachers curse themselves that in this life they
are made to teach the most polluted people,
the Untouchables. The school curriculum does
not include topics of caste discrimination andhuman rights education. Now the question is
how to remove these caste biases and prejudicestoward Dalit students. What can be done tobring an end to the apartheid-kind of system

164  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

that prevails in India?
One way of bringing an egalitarian system
and an end to caste discrimination is to dismantle the caste system. The Constitution has
provided a framework. On the one hand, itabolishes the practice of Untouchability, and on
the other hand, it introduces the positive discrimination measures to achieve integration ofDalit communities into the mainstream society.
If the laws prohibiting Untouchability, such as
Untouchability Offences Act, 1955 (amended
and renamed as Protection of Civil Rights Act,
1976 [1976 PCR Act]) and the Prevention of
Atrocities Act, 1989 (1989 POA) are implemented in their letter and spirit and the perpetrators of atrocities against Dalits are punished,
the practices of discrimination in schools also
will gradually come to an end.
But the perpetrators of atrocities against
Dalits and offences of Untouchability are rarely
punished. There is a big gap in the registrationof cases of crimes against Dalits in police stations and the rate of acquittals by the judiciary.
Let us briefly look at the data. It is shocking tolearn that during the decade 1990-2000 a totalof 285,871 cases of various crimes against Dalits
were registered countrywide, of which 14,030
were registered under the 1976 PCR Act and
81,796 under the 1989 POA. This means thatan average of 28,587 cases of practice of Untouchability and atrocities against Dalits wereregistered every year during the 1990s. These
include, among others, 553 cases of murder,
2,990 cases of grievous hurt, 919 rapes, 184
kidnappings/abductions, 47 dacoities, 127 robberies, 456 cases of arson, 1,403 cases of caste
discrimination and 8,179 cases of atrocities. In
other words, every hour more than three casesof atrocities against Dalits are registered, andevery day three cases of rape and at least one
murder are reported. (Shah et al, 2006, 13435). Equally shocking is the data concerninghigh rate of acquittals. The Third and Sixth
reports of National Commission for SCs and
STs reveal respectively, that in 1996, the conviction rate in these cases was fifteen percent, while

the acquittal rate was eighty-five percent andthat in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, as much as
eighty-nine percent of cases resulted in acquittals.19 This yawning gap between registration ofcrimes and acquittals of perpetrators needs tobe drastically bridged, and the justice delivery
system needs to be improved.
In relation to the schools, the following
measures need to be undertaken: the curriculum
must 1) acknowledge the existence of caste discrimination and the way the leaders from Dalit
communities (like Phule and Ambedkar) havefought for the abolition of Untouchabilty, and
2) address the issue of caste relations and humanrights; teachers must be sensitized on caste discrimination during training programs; enabling
pedagogies must evolve; and specific academic
support to Dalit children must be provided.
In addition, schools need to reach out to Dalit
communities and strengthen school-community
relations.20

References
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Anitha, B.K. 2000. Village, Caste and Education. New
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Aruna, R. 1999. “Learn Thoroughly: Primary Schooling in Tamil Nadu”, Economic and Political Weekly,
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Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ)
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in India, Report submitted to CERD, available atwww.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/
chrgj_hrw.pdf
Derez, Jean and Haris Gazdar. 1996. “Uttar Pradesh:
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University Press.
Illaiah, Kancha. 1996. Why I am not a Hindu. Calcutta:
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Jabbi, Mona and C.Rajyalakshmi. 2001. “Education of
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Kaul, Rekha. 2001. “Accessing Primary Education: Going Beyond the Classroom,” Economic and Political
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Kumar, Krishna. 1989. Social Character of Learning.
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Lee, Joel and Sukhadeo Thorat. 2005. Dalits and Right
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Nambissan, Geeta B. 2000. “Dealing with deprivation”, Seminar, No. 493.
Nambissan, Geetha B.and Mona Sedwal. 2002. “Education For All—The Situation of Dalit Children
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Endnotes
1
Article 45 is a Directive Principle, which does notconfer a justiciable right upon the individual but is nevertheless regarded as ‘fundamental in the governance ofthe country’, -- being in the nature of ‘principles of social
policy’ as contained in the Constitution of the Republicof Ireland. The drafters of the Indian Constitution considered that though the Directive Principles could not,owing to their nature, be made legally enforceable; it waswell worth to incorporate in the Constitution some basic
nonjusticiable rights (those that could not be enforcedin courts) which would serve as moral restraints upon
the government.
2This term has derogatory connotations however. The Devadasi system is unique to the Dalit
communities of South India where there is a customof dedicating young Dalit women to God, i.e., they
are “married” to God and are supposed to serve
the temple priests’ sexual needs. Children born tosuch devadasis (female servants of God) are calledchildren of God or harijans, rather than calling themillegitimate children or bastards. The devadasis become public property. They are not entitled to marryanyone after their dedication to God. Most of them
become prostitutes later on.
3
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation 29, Discrimination
Based on Descent (Sixty-first session, 2002), U.N. Doc.
A/57/18 at 111 (2002), Para 7.
4
Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Twenty Eighth Reports
1986-87, 1988. New Delhi: Government of India, page
303, cited in Nambissan 2000.
5
A study on Primary Education in Gujarat by
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Affairs, cited in CHR and GJ and HRW, Caste based
Discrimination Against Dalits…in India, February
2007, submitted to CERD as alternative Report on
India, page 64.
6Consideration of Report by India to Human
Rights Committee, CCPR/C/79/Add.81, 4 August
1997.
7
See Right to Food Campaign, Mid-Day Meals,www.righttofoodindia.org/mdm/mdm_scorders.
html
8“Discrimination Divide Untouchability Still in
Gandhi’s Land”, Indian Express, 5 October 2006.
9“These Kids Told: You Are Dalit, Go Eat Elsewhere”, Indian Express, 16 December 2003.
10“Students reject food prepared by Dalit women,” The Hindu, 9 December 2004

166  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS
11“Untouchability casts its shadow even over
mid day meal scheme”, The Pioneer, 10 September
2004 .
12“Caste tag keeps Dalit women away from school
kitchens”, The Pioneer, 11 January 2005.
13“Rights panel sends notice on Dalit issue”, The
Asian Age, 27 December 2005
14
Cited in CHR&GJ and HRW 2007, 74.
15
Ibid.
16
District Primary Education Programme (DPEP).
1999 cited in NCDHR, 2007, 65.

17
DPEP. 1999 report of Indian Government in
NCDHR, 2007, 65-66.
18
World Bank. 1997. Primary Education in India,
Allied Publishers, New Delhi, cited in Nambissan
and Sedwal 2002, 81.
19
Cited in CHR&GJ and HRW 2007, 38.
20
Nambissan and Sedwal 2002, 84, proposed someof these suggestions.