The caste system, and the attendant discriminations, have always been ubiquitous in all spheres of life in India. This division is so ingrained in the minds of the public that even the most progressive discourses on discrimination shy away from calling out the caste system; which is the basis for bigotry, violence, intolerance, prejudice, and hatred in thousands upon thousands of cases.

When Aryans descended upon South Asia, there were no “other” communities present in India, so they introduced the caste system as a means of controlling the local population. They defined the key roles in society and then assigned groups of people to those roles. The caste system divided society into the Brahmins (priests and scholars), the Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (merchants and traders), Shudras (artisans, labourers, and servants), and the Untouchables. Even though the notion of untouchability has been abolished from the constitution, it is still very much a part of Indian society and continues to divide India’s body politic.

Like all other spheres of life, the caste system has had and continues to have, significant effects on the education system. Aryans divided people along the lines of caste by assigning specific jobs to specific groups of people; which practically means everyone was destined to pursue some pre-determined profession, regardless of their abilities and skills. The strictures of the caste system meant that even education, which is supposed to be an equaliser between people belonging to different social statuses, would be dependent on the family you had the luck, or lack thereof, of being born into.

Students belonging to lower castes, especially Dalits, are often ostracized and discouraged from pursuing education. It’s incredibly difficult for them to reach the same, or any, kind of school as their peers; as they’re forced into child labour and considered unfit for or unworthy of education. The intersection of disparities that exist for lower caste and lower-class people makes it almost impossible for Dalit kids to make use of their real potential, and they end up going to poor-quality schools with inadequate facilities. In the very few cases where they are fortunate enough to get into a well-established educational institution, they’re ostracized by their class fellows and teachers. Students belonging to lower castes have lower attendance rates and higher dropout rates too. They are forced to sit separately, eat separately, and work separately. They are made to clean washrooms and use separate utensils. This treatment not only affects education but also leaves psychological scars that take a lifetime to heal. This treatment causes depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems that make it even harder to pursue education in a normal fashion. Students from lower castes find it harder to get good jobs even after receiving a quality education, which in turn forces them to lead a life of poverty and makes it difficult for them to fund the education for their children; this is a vicious cycle which is near impossible to break.

Some colleges have a fixed quota for lower-caste students to deal with this issue, but they fail to consider that standardized tests and entrance exams cannot help make a leap from the existing disparities that make it difficult for those students to be equipped with life skills that are needed to fit in or join academies and coaching classes to prepare for entrance tests. These quotas are wholly inadequate to address centuries of systemic discrimination. Meritocracy assumes that everyone starts from the same starting point, but in reality, socioeconomic conditions are a major determinant of educational outcomes. Not everyone has an equal chance at climbing the ladder of social capital and success, some people’s ladders are miles longer. Urban areas have been working on getting rid of this system in educational institutions and professional settings, but rural and semi-urban areas still have a very long way to go.

A report released by a civil society group has noted that:

“The inadequacies of the current legal frameworks and colossal gaps in their implementation warrant a separate legal framework to prevent and respond to caste-based discriminatory practices in educational institutions.”

Raam Singh, an anti-caste activist associated with the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association, a student group at JNU expressed his concerns a while back:

“We have seen horrific incidents where people have committed suicides which were institutional murders over caste discriminations in the institutions. In terms of the recent challenges, the primary reason for discrimination is the upper caste mentality; lack of awareness; casteism, and no proper policy. All these are resulting in Dalits continuing to face huge discrimination,” he said, adding that the “country is struggling with casteism in higher education institutions.”

Equality is not the same as equity. The state just cannot claim to have provided the same probability of securing admission to an acclaimed university and ignore the fact that most marginalized communities do not have access to those universities, and neither do they get the opportunity to reach that level of higher education. The state has to first emancipate marginalized communities and oppressed groups of people to access these opportunities. It is the first step in building an inclusive society, which should be the highest priority for the largest democracy in the world. It is gut-wrenching that even after this system has been outlawed and the Indian constitution makes it quite clear that systemic prejudice must not happen based on caste, class, gender, or age. Indian society needs social, economic, and political change on a large scale to get rid of oppression and discrimination based on caste.

Ayesha Iqbal
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