Caste Discrimination In Higher Education

Caste based discrimination is an often denied social reality of higher education campuses in India. The blindness to caste exists not only in conversations amongst students and faculty but also exists in academic curriculum and the administration of a University. Throughout my studies in law and some part of social work education, I too grew up being blind to cast. While some of the blindness was deliberate, most of it was unconsciously convenient. Such blindness has even manifested itself in the form of academic writing with Sriniwas (2003) writing an obituary on caste system in India, arguing that the 'systemic' features of caste were soon disappearing from the rural society in different parts of the country. This has however started to change in last decade with writings from Sharmila Rege, Gopal Guru, Satish Deshpande, Sukhdeo Thorat, Sundar Sarukkai and others. More recently, the debate on caste was initiated after Gopal wrote the article ‘Are social sciences in India egalitarian?’ asking the important question on empirical shudras and theoretical pundits and the ethics of theorising.
An important discussion has been how caste operates in Moden Indian City thrashing out …show more content…
Velaskar and Wankhede (1996) were one of first to document the nature and extent of the discrimination in medical and engineering colleges with a methodology that is oriented to capturing ‘views from below’. They conclude that discrimination in higher education is very real and it invokes feelings of pain and anxiety; of resentment, anger, hatred, hostility; of confusion, bewilderment and insecurity; of apathy, worthlessness and helplessness; and of self-pity. The article illustrates the nature of prejudice, hostility and humiliation that students from Dalit communities face in higher