TACKLING CASTE DISCRIMINATION
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HOW DO WE TACKLE CASTE DISCRIMINATION?
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Children on the Edge supports 31 Learning Centres in Patna, Bihar State who offer education to over 970 Dalit children who encounter exclusion or severe abuse and discrimination in mainstream government schools.
Our Learning Centres provide a safe, protective space for them to learn and play. To build a protective environment for Dalit children in their wider community, we also support 89 Women’s Groups, working alongside them to help them realise their rights, advocate for change and break the cycle of discrimination. |
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WHAT IS CASTE DISCRIMINATION?
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Caste Discrimination can be described as ‘discrimination based on work and descent’, meaning that because of the occupation or the family a person is born into, they are socially excluded, economically deprived and subject to violence and abuse. This is a socially constructed system, but unlike class discrimination where there is some potential for mobility, this is fixed by birth and perpetuated through many generations. Commonly in caste systems, those who have more power are at the top and those who have none are at the bottom. Amnesty International estimates that caste discrimination is widespread across Asia and Africa, affecting over 260 million people. |
Dalit children learn through a rooftop school in a crowded slum. Since this time we have found ground level venues for their lessons!
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“THE PRACTICE OF CASTE DISCRIMINATION RESULTS IN A PROCESS OF DEHUMANIZATION WHERE LOWER CASTES ARE LOOKED UPON AS FILTHY, UNWORTHY, AND IMPURE. THIS DEGRADING PEOPLE MECHANISM HAS LED TO “AN EXTERNALIZED AND INTERNALIZED SOCIAL NORM THAT EVENTUALLY LEGITIMATIZES MISTREATMENT AND ABUSES AGAINST AFFECTED COMMUNITIES, PERPETUATING DISCRIMINATION AND PATTERNS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST THEM.”
Rita Izsák-Ndiaye - UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues 2011 - 2017 |
WHAT IS THE CASTE SYSTEM?
The caste system assigns individuals a certain hierarchical status according to Hindu beliefs. Traditionally there are four principal castes (divided into thousands of sub-categories) and a fifth category of people who fall outside of the caste system; the Dalits.
Despite the fact that discrimination based on caste was outlawed by India’s constitution in 1950, the practice of ‘untouchability’ still dictates the order of modern life for millions living in India.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN INDIA?
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Despite the fact that discrimination based on caste was outlawed by India’s constitution in 1950, the practice of ‘untouchability’ still dictates the order of modern life for millions living in India.
Their caste system has been described as the country’s ‘hidden apartheid’ and assigns individuals a hierarchical status according to Hindu beliefs. Traditionally there are four main castes and a fifth category of people who fall outside of the caste system; the Dalits, who are also known as ‘untouchables’. The word Dalit translates as ‘oppressed’ or ‘broken’ and is generally used to refer to people who were once considered ‘untouchable’ because of the impurity connected with their traditional ‘outcaste’ occupations such as cleaning latrines. Dalits face discrimination at almost every level, from access to education and medical facilities to restrictions on where they can live and what jobs they can have. Indian schools are legally obliged to include children from all castes, but because of the prevailing prejudice, most schools for Dalits are either abandoned or barely functioning. Some mainstream schools allow Dalit children to attend, but treat them with cruelty and neglect. They are often made to sit at the back of the class and not allowed to touch or interact with children from higher castes. Naturally in these conditions, many Dalit children either cannot attend school or drop out from at an early age, perpetuating a cycle of illiteracy, poverty and exclusion. Read more about life 'on the edge' for Dalit children. |
‘MORE THAN ONE-SIXTH OF INDIA’S POPULATION, SOME 160 MILLION PEOPLE, LIVE A PRECARIOUS EXISTENCE, SHUNNED BY MUCH OF SOCIETY BECAUSE OF THEIR RANK AS UNTOUCHABLES OR DALITS - LITERALLY MEANING BROKEN PEOPLE - TO BE AT THE BOTTOM OF INDIA’S CASTE SYSTEM. DALITS ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, DENIED ACCESS TO LAND, FORCED TO WORK IN DEGRADING CONDITIONS, AND ROUTINELY ABUSED AT THE HANDS OF THE POLICE AND OF HIGHER-CASTE GROUPS THAT ENJOY THE STATE’S PROTECTION’.
Human Rights Watch report - 'Broken People' 
Dalit slum in Patna, Bihar State, India.
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“In the village their houses are kept away from other houses, and in the city they are ghettoised. There are often no toilets in their houses, or even a community toilet so they are forced to go in the open, on land they do not own, so they are chased away.
There is a lack of clean drinking water facilities for the Dalits. In one slum 150 families use two hand pumps. The man next to this slum does not allow their water to flow through his land to the river, so the dirty water remains in the slum and creates sickness and filth. If I go with Dalit staff or friends to someone’s house they are nervous as they know they will not be welcomed in. They will not be offered food or able to use the glasses or plates of other castes, if they touch these things, the owner will throw them away”. - Sr Veena Jacob, Programme Manager of NESWS, whose work we support in India |
YOU MIGHT LIKE
READ ABOUT HOW WE'RE GETTING DALIT TEENAGERS BACK INTO EDUCATION
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READ HOW OUR LEARNING CENTRES ARE PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE FOR DALIT CHILDREN
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READ ABOUT HOW WE'RE HELPING TO TACKLE CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN INDIA
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