BELAGAVI: Besides engaging and educating children, teachers involved in the government’s Vidyagama programme also made attempts to resolve
caste discrimination, which is rampant in rural parts of
North Karnataka.
Some teachers who conducted classes in temples and mutts in Ballari, Raichur, Koppal, Belagavi and Yadgir districts got a first-hand taste of the problem when they were rudely asked to conduct classes elsewhere. This, because they not only allowed children from low-caste families to enter premises run by savarnas or upper caste Hindus, but also sat them alongside children from upper caste families.
Just two days into the programme, high school teacher Laxman Patel (name changed) was questioned by upper caste elders on his intentions of holding classes in an area belonging to a Lingayat mutt in Sindhanur taluk, Raichur district.
Patel said that on the third day, people from upper caste communities banded together and picked an argument with him. “They said that they have been protecting their place of worship for decades against ‘impurities’ and the sanctity of the place would be lost if I allowed Dalits into the shrine for Vidyagama classes,” Patel said. “I was rudely told to move my classes to some other spot.”
At Siraguppa taluk in Ballari, Rajalakshmi was forced to move her students from a Brahmin mutt, but the problem did not end there. She said she resumed tenement schooling in an open area in locality dominated by upper castes. There too, elders objected because SC/ST kids were seated along with their children.
In Yelburga taluk in Koppal, savarnas warned parents of Dalit children to stop sending them to classes saying it would derail the caste hierarchy. Ramesh K, a teacher privy to the issue, said, “A parent of an SC student came to me and said his family would be cursed if he sent his child to the mutt. He said they are not supposed to enter these places of worship.”
Stunned by these revelations, some 15 teachers resolved to end this discrimination. They held online meetings and finally decided to shift class venues to Dalit colonies.
“This came as a surprise for the upper castes,” Patel said. “Elders from these communities again objected, but we told them that we had no choice as SC/ST kids are barred in other places. After this, some parents did not send their children to class for a couple of days, but fearing they would miss out on an education, they began sending them.”
Ravikumar, a teacher from Belagavi district, said the move was bringing about small changes, but that was halted when Vidyagama was abruptly suspended.
“Parents had no option but to send their children to classes,” Ravikumar said. “Caste is still a very sensitive issue in these villages and taking on upper castes without a proper plan in mind can land one in trouble.”
MR Bheri, a Dalit leader from Raichur, said, “In schools, discrimination is not that visible. Vidyagama exposed the gravity of the problem in villages. Even today in some anganwadis, upper caste parents do not allow Dalit women to cook food.”