Monday, July 30, 2012

Why there's an alarming rash of suicides among Dalit students



From left: Mahendra Meena and Pankaj Meena were medical students with Anil Meena, who died by suicide in March.+

BREAKING CASTE

Why there's an alarming rash of suicides among Dalit students

The sharply truncated life of Anil Meena was marked by a ferocious tenacity.
From the mud house in rural Rajasthan, where he grew up in a family of subsistence farmers, he made his way first to school and then to the top of his class. He studied with monomaniacal intensity and passed the entrance exam to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the most prestigious of India’s professional colleges – an achievement almost unfathomable in the largely illiterate aboriginal community from which he came.


At AIIMS, he battled through classes where he couldn’t understand a word of the English being spoken and pored over a dictionary to get through textbooks. When an arbitrary rule change – that just happened to affect only students from backgrounds such as his – cost him a passing grade in a crucial exam, he tried repeatedly to meet his course director, his friends say. He sat outside the man’s office for four or five hours at a time for a week.
But Mr. Meena had come up against something his intelligence and perseverance could not overcome: Students of his kind are not welcome at AIIMS, no more than they are at other prestigious Indian universities. They rarely graduate. No one was prepared to help him succeed.
On March 3, Mr. Meena hung himself from the fan in his small dormitory room. He was 22.
His death was a crippling blow to his family, a shock to his friends and an ugly blemish for AIIMS. It was also the 20th reported suicide in four years at an elite Indian educational institution by a student who was either aboriginal or Dalit – the people from the bottom of the Hindu caste system, once known as untouchables.
The suicides have emerged as a subject for fierce debate. Following the promise of the new India, these students are hyper-achievers from the grimmest of backgrounds, who made it into the schools that produce engineers, doctors and business leaders who are sought the world over.
But when they get there, they are often isolated, humiliated and discriminated against. They are told overtly by their professors that they will never make it to graduation. Yet many feel they cannot drop out – families and communities are invested in their success, and many have taken huge loans.
Some, trapped in this dilemma, have chosen to end their lives.
In the very places that produce the innovators who are supposed to shape its future, India is dogged by the darkest forces from its past.
“It’s very pervasive and very invisible,” says Shweta Barge, who monitors educational discrimination for the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights. From a Dalit community herself, Ms. Barge often tried to keep her identity cloaked as she managed to earn a postgraduate degree. “Those [Hindu] ideas of purity and pollution exist across every stream, in every school. It gets to hard-core Indian values: It’s not just about where you reach; it’s about where you came from.”
The suicides have occurred at 16 different institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and at the universities of Hyderabad and Bangalore.
In 2008, a final-year Dalit medical student at Government Medical College in Chandigarh in the Punjab hung himself in the college library; Jaspreet Singh left a note in his pocket describing how the head of his department told him repeatedly to his face that he would never, ever be permitted to be a doctor.
That professor had failed him several times in course work, although Mr. Singh had never before had anything but top marks. After his death, an external committee re-evaluated his exams and found that he should have passed. He was awarded his degree posthumously.
On March 3, 2010, exactly two years before Mr. Meena’s death, another young aboriginal man killed himself at AIIMS. Bal Mukund Bharti, 25, was just weeks away from earning his degree, something unprecedented in his community in Madhya Pradesh.
His parents, who’d taken out massive loans to support him, told a team from of investigators from the Insight Foundation, which works to support Dalit and aboriginal students, that he repeatedly complained of harassment from his professors.
He said that one often complained, “I don’t know where they come from, these Dalits and [aboriginals], getting here without studying anything.”
Yet Mr. Bharti was, in fact, brilliant. He had scored eighth among hundreds of thousands of students nationwide in the intensely competitive engineering entrance exam – he passed up the seat to become a doctor instead. AIIMS carried out no investigation and says he had psychological problems.
And this April, an MBA student hanged herself at a private college in Gurgaon, the new technology and industry hub on the edge of Delhi. Dana Sangma was aboriginal, from Meghalaya state in India’s remote northeast.
The university quickly released the explanation that she was distraught after being caught cheating on an exam – but her uncle, her home state’s chief minister, who had personally enrolled his niece at the high-priced school, called that claim preposterous.
He registered a complaint with the National Commission of Schedule Castes and Tribes, saying she had been driven to suicide by harassment at the college.
India has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world, especially in the age group of college students. But these deaths stand out because of the clear connection, often described in suicide notes, with the discrimination the victim endured.
The issue goes to the heart of a story that India wants to tell about itself these days: that traditional guarantees of privilege – wealth and caste – are losing power in favour of merit.
But if that is at all true, it is thanks largely to the program of “reservations” – a form of affirmative action under which all publicly funded educational institutions must reserve about 40 per cent of their seats for aboriginal (or “tribal”), Dalit and “other backward caste” students.
A percentage of jobs in government institutions are also reserved, as are political seats in municipal government.
The education reservations were set out in the Indian constitution adopted in 1950, although it was decades before there was more than a handful of such students who even reached the point of applying, and uproars from dominant-caste students and their families were a consistent drag on the program’s full implementation until recently.
Today, there is a politically incorrect tint to complaining about reservations, but many dominant-caste students still resent them.
India is desperately short of higher-education institutions. The Ministry of Human Resource Development says the country needs at least 1,500 more – 520,000 students wrote the entrance exam for the IIT this year, competing for fewer than 10,000 spots.
A degree from one of the elite engineering or medical institutes is a ticket to a life of comfort. But the competition for seats, combined with the reservations, means the admission cutoff – the minimum grade for acceptance – for non-reserved students hovers in the high 90s.
Dalit students are perceived as taking seats that should go to students who scored higher. Indeed, there are thoughtful critics, such as the leading New Delhi public intellectual Gucharan Das, who point out that inequality in India today does not always follow traditional lines – some in the “other backward caste” groups are prospering, but they pressed to be included among the reservations, while other poor people are left out.
But those are the exceptions. Anoop Kumar, who runs the Insight Foundation, says most of the backlash against reservations comes from an (often deliberate) misunderstanding of the principle. “People are defining merit strictly in terms of marks in the entrance exam, and that conveniently discounts all the other factors affecting the performance of the students,” he says.
“So a student from an urban, upper-caste, upper-class background who has both parents literate and studied at a an elite, private [English-language] school is considered more ‘meritorious’ when he or she has 85-per-cent marks, than a reservation-category student who goes to a terrible government school in [Hindi] and has no one in the family who is literate but still scores 75-per-cent marks.”
Yet their dominant-caste peers still grouse that the reserved-category students would never make it if they had to compete on an open field. Their professors often share that view: As Ms. Barge points out, the faculty in these prestigious institutes is overwhelming made up of people from the dominant castes, since only a single generation of Dalits really has had the chance for a professional education.
“They have this idea rooted in their psyche that tribal and Dalit students ‘don’t have the merit and can’t match up to us,’ ” says Ajita Rao, a Dalit medical doctor who studies discrimination in professional education. “That’s the hidden thing.”
Dr. Rao says that resentment, hostility and isolation – rooted in the idea that Dalits and aboriginals are “unclean” – permeates college life. They are shunned in dining halls and dorms and mocked in classes, ever reminded of their marginalization.
This has a debilitating effect on students who always thought of themselves as achievers.
“You go for [an oral examination] and they ask you your name and where you are from, and you say Meena from Rajasthan – they say, ‘Oh, okay,’ ” says Jagram Meena, 20, who was a close friend of Anil Meena’s (but no relation – their surname is given to all in their caste group).
He says such exchanges have a direct effect on his performance: “You feel dehumanized and you forget everything you want to say. They are saying, ‘Okay, you are a reservation-category student and you don’t know anything.’ You’re marked from that moment.”
In 2006, a series of protests by Dalit and aboriginal students at AIIMS complaining of discrimination prompted the central government to appoint Sukhadeo Thorat, a prominent academic from a Dalit background, to investigate.
His three-person commission found dorms segregated by caste, students subjected to open hostility by their teachers and even physical attacks by dominant-caste students on those they considered inferior.
The Thorat report said these students consistently reported having less time with oral examiners, and being asked their surname in unnecessary situations. It faulted AIIMS for failing to provided language support to students coming from Hindi- language schools and for relying heavily on subjective assessments rather than more objective tests.
Also, in a grim foreshadowing of the experience Anil Meena would describe a few years later – the report criticized cases of sudden rule changes that had a disproportionate impact on reserved-category students.
In Mr. Meena’s case, the weight given to one assessment was changed to 50 from 25 per cent, seemingly arbitrarily, after the exam had been conducted. This caused him and many other students to fail – almost all reservation students, said Mahinder Meena, an intern at AIIMS (also from the Rajasthani aboriginal community) who helped organize protests after the suicide. The Thorat report recorded a pattern of such incidents.
AIIMS’s administration rejected the report “in totality,” calling it biased, although under public pressure it did increase its language-learning support.
In the wake of Anil Meena’s death, the administration acknowledges only that he had been depressed about failing an exam and was struggling with English.
“This was a tragic event,” says Rakesh Yadav, AIIMS’s subdean for academic issues. “No institution wants that.”
The school did offer financial compensation to Mr. Meena’s parents. But Dr. Yadav rejects the idea that the university’s conduct had any role. “It is absolutely not true. All support any [medical] student needs is provided – the faculty and the administration is always there to help out.”
Dr. Yadav will agree that the area of language support might be insufficient – that an hour a day might not be enough to get a unilingual Hindi student through a medical curriculum. “It’s basically a language problem.”
Beyond that, however, he says there was “no discrimination” in AIIMS. “If you say faculty are doing the discrimination – it’s too much. … They assess students based on marks.”
As for bias, he adds, there are processes to prevent any individual professor from vindictively undermining a student, but clinical skills, for example, must by definition be evaluated in person: “To modify it to be 100 per cent objective – it’s not possible.”
However, after Anil Meena’s death, AIIMS contacted Prof. Thorat again and asked him to return to the school to investigate, which he considers a major improvement over the hostile reception to his last inquiry.
“This time there is an attitude to do something about the problem they face,” he says. “I have a feeling that because of these two suicides … it shook the faculty and teachers.”
Jagram Meena hopes so. He points out that his friend Anil placed 400th in the all-India medical entrance exam, far higher than most of the general-category students at AIIMS. They both certainly struggled in their first year – they had to consult the dictionary 10 times to read a single page of their textbooks – but Anil was managing.
He played Bollywood music loudly to relax, or joined friends – mostly from his caste group – for cricket in the courtyard. His father and brother were taking loans to send him fees every month. He was coping, Jagram says, until the rules kept shifting.
“We’re in no way lower than the general-category students,” says Jagram, sipping tea at the canteen outside the student dorm.
“One day,” he says – when the public schools that prepare Dalit and aboriginal kids are as good as everyone else’s – “we’ll all be one category.”
But Mahinder Meena cuts him off, demanding to know how change like that could come as long as it’s almost impossible for Dalit students to succeed.
“Our fear about his suicide,” Mahinder says, “is that it will change nothing.”

Sunday, July 29, 2012


With not many schools willing to implement RTE Act in its true spirit, the civic body education board says it will help children belonging to EWS get admitted to schools and at the same time it will derecognise schools that refuse to share the responsibility.
Despite SC ruling, most city schools reluctant to implement RTE Act
Even after the Supreme Court ruling on 25 per cent quota for students from economically weaker sections (EWS), its implementation in most of the city schools is still uncertain. While some schools have been claiming that their admission procedure is over, others are citing lack of infrastructure as reason for failing to accommodate additional students.
Madhura Kulkarni of Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya (NMV) said their classrooms that already have about 70 students will not be able to accommodate more. “Giving admissions to 25 per cent students from EWS is not feasible for us this year. We have many students who are from the ‘below poverty line’ bracket. We do not have the infrastructure to support more students,” said Kulkarni.
“We did get a few queries. As per the rule, they need to produce income certificate and also prove that they stay in the vicinity of the school. Once we verify all this, we can surely admit them,” said Nalini Sengupta, principal, Vidya Valley School.
Cambridge International School authority claims that they were not approached by anyone from the economically weaker section till they finished the admission process in January. School director Ram Raina said, “Though the school is not against the Act, some parents might have reservations about their child sharing a classroom with children from poorer families.” He added, “I can surely guide such parents but I can’t change their mindset.”
Since no such admission was sought at City International School, Kothrud, the school filled up its regular number of seats, said Principal Nirmal Waddan. He said the school welcomes the 25 per cent reservation but being a CBSE board, they had to begin the academic session in April and offer admission on first-come-first-serve basis.
Mrudula Mahajan, principal of D Y Patil School, Pimpri, said since they were permanently unaided school, the norm does not apply to them. “We have not yet received any government circular...There is still confusion about the issue. Also, since we are permanently unaided school, we believe the norm does not apply to our institution,” said Mahajan.
Teresa David, principal of Laxmanrao Apte Primary School, said the school already has many students that are from economically weaker section. “We have many slums in the vicinity, so we have many students from poor economic background. Many a times we try and help these students to pay the fees by getting financial aid from NGOs,” said David. However she said in absence of ‘clear instruction from the government’, no admission has officially been done under the 25 per cent quota for EWS section.
Usha Wag, primary school committee president, Huzurpaga School, said, “The RTE Act says that schools cannot have more than 50 students in a classroom. But if we take additional 25 per cent students, we will have to divide the class and get more teachers and classrooms which is very difficult at such a short notice.”
Deepa Kaul, principal of Dayanand Anglo Vernacular (DAV) school said no student from the EWS section had approached the school seeking admission. “Though the admissions for our entry level classes were were carried out in November last year, we are willing to admit students under RTE,” she said.
However, the education board has received complaints from many parents about schools that have been denying admissions to the students. A team of education officers from the PMC education board today visited Dastur Boys School after receiving complaint. Shubhangi Chavan of the education board said, “We visited the school to gather information about their status. They told us that they were a minority school but we told them that as they get funds for students’ books from the government, they will have to implement RTE Act.”
Activist Suresh Jain said, “We have received complaints about Dastur, Mount Carmel, Vidya Bhawan, St Anne’s School and St Mira’s. We are planning to meet the deputy director of education tomorrow and ask him to take action against them.”
Many schools implement the Act, calling it noble initiative
Not all schools are trying to get away from implementing the RTE Act. A handful of schools in the city is trying its best to accommodate as many such students as possible.
Anjali Mudholkar, headmistress, Progressive Education Society’s National Chemical Laboratory School, said at least 10 EWS students have been admitted this year. “Our admissions were closed by June 2, when the government resolution was announced. However, we wanted to accommodate at least a few students as this is a noble initiative. Till last year, we had been taking 120 students in Class I, but this year we’re hoping to take it to 140 to accommodate these kids. We will also try to take in a few of them in nursery,” she said.
She, however, expressed concern over whether schools will receive refund from the government for allowing a fee waiver to students. “If it turns out to be like the scholarships, where funds are released months later, then schools will find it difficult to continue the programme,” added Mudholkar.
Vaishali Namjoshi, principal, Dnan Prabodhini School, Nigdi, said the body that runs the school has been taking in EWS students long before SC made it mandatory. “We have always had such students in the schools with the help of our trust and other philanthropic institutions. But now we can increase the number as the government will give us about Rs 10,000 for each child. We have admitted eight such students in a batch of 100 and we’re getting more applications,” she added.
“We got just one such query and we were very happy to admit him,” said Lakshmi Kumar, director, The Orchid School. The school has put up notices in English and Marathi on its main entrance gate about its willingness to give admission to such students and a separate link on the school website about how they will implement the Act. “It is about national obligation and not personal choice,” says Kumar. However, she has concerns as well. “The Act is not clear about who will provide textbooks to these students or what books will be given to them,” she says.
Kalpana Agawane, principal of Ahilya Devi Primary School, said, “Our admissions are over, but we have given admission to students from EWS.”

Over 50% RTE seats go abegging in Dakshina Kannada


MANGALORE: There are few takers for the 25% seats reserved for the economically weaker section (EWS) under the Right To Education Act, this academic year.
Though all unaided schools have reserved 25% seats in Class I for needy children, more than 50% of these seats remain vacant in Dakshina Kannada district, even after admissions are done with.
The department of public instruction had reserved 1,645 seats in 143 unaided schools in the district. However, the response from the EWS was lukewarm. A total of 825 applications were received for admission to Class I under the RTE category in seven blocks of the district. After scrutiny, 763 children were admitted, though only 46.38% of the allotted seats were filled.
A total of 409 seats in 33 schools were reserved in Mangalore taluk block, 306 seats in 21 schools in Mangalore city, 85 seats in nine schools in Sullia, 349 in 27 schools in Puttur, 311 in 33 schools in Bantwal and 107 seats in 10 schools in Moodabidri block.
Looked upon as the answer to society's lopsided progress, it appears that somewhere, there are lapses in the implementation of the RTE quota policy. Section 12(1)(c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act mandates that unaided schools reserve 25% seats in Class I.
Lack of clarity and awareness of the provisions of the Act is said to be the reason for the poor response. The department is looking forward to implementing the scheme effectively from the next academic year. Activists working in the field of education say that poor people were not informed in advance about their privilege.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Poor kids score poorly in race for admissions



Source: Nishant Chhabra, DNA   |   Last Updated 05:22(27/07/12)
 

Jaipur: Even after the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, access to education has not become any easier for the students from the economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society.
Despite a lot of fuss and noise, the RTE Act, which mandates private schools to reserve 25 per cent of their seats at the entry level for students belonging to disadvantaged sections, is actually not fulfilling its main objective. Instead, a number of students who are poor are still away from getting admission in the schools.
When DNA queried and conducted a reality check in some the prominent schools of the city, a surprising fact came to light that the students admitted in the private schools are not from the economically weaker sections.
Many parents, who have admitted their wards to the schools rather belong to section that is comparatively an upper section than the EWS, while, children who hail from a low background are still not able to make a cut in these schools. The parents who can afford their child to get educated are availing the benefits of the RTE Act posing as from economically weaker section, by providing fake documents.
“Parents have been submitting fake certificates for the admission and the system that has been adopted is unable to provide education to the poor kids. There are lots of changes to be brought in the Act,” said, Dr Ashok Gupta, director, India International School.
The reason behind the lack of the accuracy in the admissions is not one but many. The income slab that is Rs2.5 lakh is very high, while the same income category in other states is Rs 1 lakh or so. Lack of awareness and confidence among the poor people is also one of the reasons that they hesitate to go and admit their wards.
“There are cases in which admissions have been taken on the basis of fake documents. We have also urged schools to ensure that admissions should be given to those who really deserve it. We have been requesting the state government to lower the income group, so that actually poor people can be included in the category,” said, Deepak Kalra, chairperson, State Commission for Protection of Children.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Reply of your letter No.F.3/1(!35)/DDE/WB/VIG./2011/436, Dated 13-07-2012.


To,
The Dy. Director of Education (West-B),
O/o the Dy. Director of Education, GNCT of Delhi,
Distt. West-B, G Block, Vikas Puri, New Delhi.
(Vigilance Branch)

Subject: Reply of your letter No.F.3/1(!35)/DDE/WB/VIG./2011/436, Dated 13-07-2012.

Dear Madam,
We come to know through your letter No.F.3/1(!35)/DDE/WB/VIG./2011/436, Dated 13-07-2012, & we received this letter on 19/07/2012 that the department conduct the re-inquire of Mr. H.K. Pandey (Education Officer zone-17) complaint case.
On behalf of a group of parents, we wish to seek your kind attention towards above subject. We had already submitted 48 pages evidences along with our letter no. GL(NGO)/DDE(W-B) 01/2012 on dated 10/01/2012 in your office, which was diary no.152/10/01/2012.( Photocopy attached for reference) Recently our parents group is also suffering from the injustice of Mr. H.K. Pandey (Education Officer zone-17). We would like to submit the following few points for your perusal and consideration:-
1.      Mr. M.S. Rathee, DDE (West-B) was apparently proved in his factual report reference No. 313 dated 18/07/2011 that Mr. H.K. Pandey, presently working as Education Officer, zone-17 is responsible for procedural failure during the draw of lots for EWS nursery admission in respect of three schools. He was responsible for not providing complete correct information as sought by the applicant through the RTI application No. 472 dated 21/02/2011 in violation of the statutory provision under RTI Act-2005.
2.      Inspired by RTE Act, thousands parents have applying in the neighborhood schools for their children nursery admission under EWS quota from the poor SC/ST/OBCs families concentrated colonies near West Delhi. The most of schools are flouted the EWS admission norms, but after the parents complaints regarding serious irregularities and violations of EWS nursery admission procedures  and the Constitutional & the statutory rights of the children to free and compulsory quality elementary education. Mr. H.K. Pandey (Education Officer zone-17) was not taken any action against erring unaided private schools. Despite being fully empowered to stop and equipped to do. We just wonder whether DDE, EO & DEO are Human beings or Powerful officials, who keep their mouth shut and do nothing to stop this heinous crime against Humanity? We have suffered enough due to official’s negligence and deficiency. We are deeply hurt and disappointed with any lack of a real and meaningful solution from DDE office.
3.      The unaided private public schools managements are cannot violation of RTE Act, while till would not have been possible without the connivance of the higher educational officials of department.
4.      As we know, in many cases, the aggrieved  parents cannot lodge complaint as they are harass by Mr. H.K. Pandey & warn to parents by powerful schools management  to not do so. The large numbers of cases in Directorate of Education (West-B) is far from truth as many cases are not registered. Harassment of a common man by public authorities is socially abhorring and legally impermissible.
5.      All citizens, parents & educationist are agreed with the true fact that the RTE Act violation is a shameful act which is crime against humanity. Directorate of Education (West-B) has been on the top of the list in the number of RTE Act violation cases for last two years now. It's for Delhi Govt & Education Department Shame that RTE Act violator unaided private schools & bureaucrats have left without punishment. Moreover, they have free to do again such crime.......... There is no dearth of Laws but a Law alone cannot improve governance. It requires only Bureaucrats strong will to honestly inquire the case without fear or favour.
We have appealed & demanding to the concerned vigilance officer that as per submitted evidence on record and all the relevant facts and circumstances by us.  All evidence is available in your office, kindly a fair inquiry should be initiated by an independent agency in this regard, and the truth will most certainly come out. The innocent people are awaiting justice.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you further need additional information. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
With Regards,
(Secretary)
Gyan Lakshay (NGO) 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Higher your education, harder it is getting a job

Jul 18, 2012, 12.56AM IST TNNRukmini Shrinivasan ]

NEW DELHI: India's official unemployment rate last year was 3.8%, data released recently by the Labour Bureau shows, but, as always, averages hide many stories. A closer look at the numbers shows that unemployment rises with education level to 10% among graduates, and higher still for backward castes.

The Chandigarh-based Labour Bureau under the union ministry of labour and employment released the 'Employment and Unemployment Survey 2012' last week. The pan-India survey had a representative sample of 1.2 lakh households. According to the survey, India's official unemployment rate is 3.8%, with urban unemployment at 5.1% and rural at 3.5%. Unemployment is higher among women than among men; 6.7% for women as against 2.8% for men.

Calculations by TIG using the labour bureau numbers show that unemployment rises steadily with education level. While unemployment among the illiterate is 1.2%, unemployment among graduates is 9.4% and among post-graduates it is 10%. In the United States and United Kingdom, where recession has led to poor job growth, the unemployment rate for graduates is at a record high, but this is still under 5%, in comparison.



For urban India, graduate unemployment is 8.2% while unemployment among post-graduates is slightly lower, at 7.7%.

These findings are consistent with those of the National Sample Survey 2009-10 which show that the higher the level of education, the higher the open unemployment, says Santosh Mehrotra, economist and director-general of the Institute of Applied Manpower Research, an autonomous institution under the Planning Commission. "The illiterate are the poorest, and the poorest simply cannot afford to be unemployed, so they do some work, even if they are under-employed," says Mehrotra. "As a result, in poor economies like ours, you see very little open unemployment," he says.

The correlation between low education and low unemployment also explains another finding of the Labour Bureau, that socially disadvantaged groups like scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes have lower unemployment than "others". At the aggregate level, unemployment among SCs is 3.2%, for STs it is 2.7% and for OBCs it is 3.2% as compared to 5.4% for "others".

However this appears to be a result of lower education levels among backward groups, because at the higher end of the education spectrum, there is higher unemployment among backward castes than for "others". Among SCs, graduate unemployment is 11.3% and post-graduate unemployment 12.7%, while for "others", the corresponding figures are 9% and 9.7%. Unemployment among graduate and post-graduate STs and OBCs is also higher than for "others". Across social groups, graduate unemployment among women is above 25%.

Ram Mohan Kumar completed his BCom from a private college in Noida in 2008. The son of a carpenter, he is the first person in his family with a degree. "It was not possible for me to study after that because post-graduate courses are too expensive. I looked for a job doing accounts or insurance work after graduating but I could not get anything. Now I do odd jobs for a living. I feel my degree is just wasted," he says. Indu Rai, who like Kumar is dalit, completed her M.A in Sociology from Damoh in Madhya Pradesh. "I thought I could get a teaching job but everyone asks for a BEd. I have five siblings to educate. How can I do another degree now?" she asks over the phone.

Mehrotra says that the higher levels of unemployment among graduate SCs points to discrimination in the labour market, an issue that economist and Indian Council of Social Science Research chairman Sukhadeo Thorat has written about. In a landmark study, Thorat and his fellow researcher Paul Attewell answered job ads with fictional resumes. They found that applicants with a dalit surname were systematically less likely to be called for an interview than upper caste applicants with poorer qualifications than the dalit applicants.

Higher your education, harder it is getting a job

Jul 18, 2012, 12.56AM IST TNNRukmini Shrinivasan ]

NEW DELHI: India's official unemployment rate last year was 3.8%, data released recently by the Labour Bureau shows, but, as always, averages hide many stories. A closer look at the numbers shows that unemployment rises with education level to 10% among graduates, and higher still for backward castes.

The Chandigarh-based Labour Bureau under the union ministry of labour and employment released the 'Employment and Unemployment Survey 2012' last week. The pan-India survey had a representative sample of 1.2 lakh households. According to the survey, India's official unemployment rate is 3.8%, with urban unemployment at 5.1% and rural at 3.5%. Unemployment is higher among women than among men; 6.7% for women as against 2.8% for men.

Calculations by TIG using the labour bureau numbers show that unemployment rises steadily with education level. While unemployment among the illiterate is 1.2%, unemployment among graduates is 9.4% and among post-graduates it is 10%. In the United States and United Kingdom, where recession has led to poor job growth, the unemployment rate for graduates is at a record high, but this is still under 5%, in comparison.



For urban India, graduate unemployment is 8.2% while unemployment among post-graduates is slightly lower, at 7.7%.

These findings are consistent with those of the National Sample Survey 2009-10 which show that the higher the level of education, the higher the open unemployment, says Santosh Mehrotra, economist and director-general of the Institute of Applied Manpower Research, an autonomous institution under the Planning Commission. "The illiterate are the poorest, and the poorest simply cannot afford to be unemployed, so they do some work, even if they are under-employed," says Mehrotra. "As a result, in poor economies like ours, you see very little open unemployment," he says.

The correlation between low education and low unemployment also explains another finding of the Labour Bureau, that socially disadvantaged groups like scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes have lower unemployment than "others". At the aggregate level, unemployment among SCs is 3.2%, for STs it is 2.7% and for OBCs it is 3.2% as compared to 5.4% for "others".

However this appears to be a result of lower education levels among backward groups, because at the higher end of the education spectrum, there is higher unemployment among backward castes than for "others". Among SCs, graduate unemployment is 11.3% and post-graduate unemployment 12.7%, while for "others", the corresponding figures are 9% and 9.7%. Unemployment among graduate and post-graduate STs and OBCs is also higher than for "others". Across social groups, graduate unemployment among women is above 25%.

Ram Mohan Kumar completed his BCom from a private college in Noida in 2008. The son of a carpenter, he is the first person in his family with a degree. "It was not possible for me to study after that because post-graduate courses are too expensive. I looked for a job doing accounts or insurance work after graduating but I could not get anything. Now I do odd jobs for a living. I feel my degree is just wasted," he says. Indu Rai, who like Kumar is dalit, completed her M.A in Sociology from Damoh in Madhya Pradesh. "I thought I could get a teaching job but everyone asks for a BEd. I have five siblings to educate. How can I do another degree now?" she asks over the phone.

Mehrotra says that the higher levels of unemployment among graduate SCs points to discrimination in the labour market, an issue that economist and Indian Council of Social Science Research chairman Sukhadeo Thorat has written about. In a landmark study, Thorat and his fellow researcher Paul Attewell answered job ads with fictional resumes. They found that applicants with a dalit surname were systematically less likely to be called for an interview than upper caste applicants with poorer qualifications than the dalit applicants.

EWS girl student


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

In spite of the Supreme Court of India’s validations of RTE Act, Scheduled Castes Kids are not admitted to Private unaided schools in India.


Respected Sir,
We are not demanding anything new. We just want that old reservation policy (as per the government policy, 15% of the students admitted to schools/universities must be from Scheduled castes and for the Scheduled tribes there is a reservation of about 7.5 %.) should be continued. We would not tolerate any games played against us.
Dalits are among the poorest of citizens, generally do not own land, and often are illiterate. They face significant discrimination despite the laws that exist to protect them, and often are prohibited from using the same wells and from attending the same temples as higher caste Hindus, and from marrying persons from higher castes. In addition they face segregation in housing, in land ownership, on roads, and on buses. Cultural exploitation and atrocities on dalits remain same with exceeding incidents in different corners of the country. Dalits tend to be malnourished, lack access to health care, work in poor conditions, and face continuing and severe social ostracism.
Baba Sahib Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the father of Indian constitution, was able to at least understand the dalit agony. Realizing the grievances of the backward classes, Dr. Ambedkar as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, provided adequate scope for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes. Reservations were introduced for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes to protect their interests. They were gives first preference to education reservation issue. Seats were reserved in educational institutions and in job opportunities. Reservation in educational institutions became essential as the Scheduled caste people.
With 65 years of hard work we brought our country on the top of the world map. But recently, we are facing the biggest tragedy and challenges of all times in our country. Some of the narrow minded people of our country are trying to destabilize our social structure, which we built with 65 years of hard work.
Anyhow India got freedom many yrs back but SC/ST poor still didn’t get full freedom in India. The government machinery has not been able to even 65 years after independence to educate its citizens, notably the SC/ST poor.
Education sector is getting privatized by dominate clever sections and hence education is expensive. Expensive education has main reason be deprived to the dalit for better education. The Dalit community cannot think of any quality higher education due to expensive. Such strategies are invented by dominate persons and implemented to keep dalits under subjugation.

While the Right to Education Act, 2009 has brought a glimmer of hope for children belonging to disadvantaged groups of society. It has certainly raised aspiration among the poor and disadvantaged people to get their children educated in English Medium Private Schools. However, such aspirations for most of them would be elusive as all the children are not to get admission in these schools. It is already resulting in growing unrest among them.
In view of present situation of India has seems that corrupt Bureaucrats has the greatest barrier in the way of implementation of RTE Act. Education is very important for Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes (Dalits). The present education system, cleverly designed to exploit them in one way or the other. As you well aware this true fact that SC/ST representation in education fields is negligible in India. We hope that you are very well familiar about the reasons for this situation.
History is evident that the merit of candidates belonging to SC/ST category is ignored by the selection committee when they apply their wards under EWS category for school admission & admit only EWS upper caste people’s wards to Private unaided schools. The government seems to be deceiving its people in the context of reservation in education sector. On one hand, it is supporting the reservation policy and on the other hand, depriving dalits of admission through the EWS reservation quota. The quota appears to be filled only in papers and not in reality. They are not serious to provide good education and facilities to SC/ST students. Swami Aatma Ram Lakshay said – “It is a great sin to sit by idly when you’ve lost your rights". Concerted mass action is required.
The Directorate of Education was not proper implement the admission process in the recognized unaided private public schools and has been deprived only poor SC/ST students to take advantage of RTE Act or good quality education. When SC/STs apply their wards for school admission, the host institute discards them by saying that you are not fit for the admission by marking “No suitable candidate was found” on advertisement file. You will be shocked to note that Scheduled Castes intake of students is Few. Dominant castes people are want to abolish or eliminate SC/ST reservation. They never wanted these SC/ST people to become educated. This is happening under the nose of the Government. Because Government’s office which is right there in Delhi. There is no dearth of Laws. It requires only political & Bureaucrats strong will should to implement them rigidly without fear or favour.
In spite of the Supreme Court of India’s validations of RTE Act, Scheduled Castes Kids are not admitted to Private unaided schools in India. Now scenario is that poor people those belong to Scheduled Castes are not taking benefit of this EWS reservation. But by this new exist system only general category/upper castes candidates’ benefit. The argument of the anti-reservationists have been that there are no candidates and the available candidates are not suitable. Reservation policy is one of the best mockeries in our democratic system. Political parties & Bureaucrats are using this reservation issue for their benefit. They are not serious to provide good education and facilities to students.
You are our Prime Minister and you are our only hope and we need your sincere support, we all trust you; we believe on you, please tell us, where we will go to ask for justice?? Whole Dalits community is now very much helpless.
We have appealed & demanding to the Prime Minister of India to proper implementation of the exits reservation provision (as per the government policy, 15% of the students admitted to schools/universities must be from Scheduled castes and for the Scheduled tribes there is a reservation of about 7.5 %.) in the constitution for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for SCs/STs.

Thursday, July 12, 2012


To,
1. Hon’ble Shri Arvinder Singh Lovely,
    Delhi Education Minister,
    Delhi Secretariat, I.P Estate,
    New Delhi.
    Date: 12.07.2012
2. The Deputy Director Education,
    Office of the DDE (West-B), GBSSS No-1,
    G- Block, Vikash Puri, New Delhi-110018.


Sub.:Peaceful Protest Demonstration by group of parents and volunteers of Gyan Lakshay (NGO) whole day in front of the Deputy Director of Education (West) office on Monday 23 July 2012 at 10.00 a.m. for the well-being of baby Bhumika.

Dear Sir/Madam,

By this letter, we bring to your urgent notice another shocking instance of high-handedness and illegality on the part of the management of S.S. Mota Singh Sr. Sec. School, Guru Harkishan Nagar, New Delhi-110087 in which a Class VI D, student, baby Bhumika D/o JAI BHAGWAN (Mobile: 9811662031) and belonging to the Scheduled Caste category (Khatik) removed from school from 09.07.2012 because his poor parents were unable to deposit school fees. Meanwhile, Delhi government has several times announced that socially disadvantaged groups Girls will be given preference in education under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

However, S.S. Mota Singh Sr. Sec. School, at Guru Harkishan Nagar, New Delhi-110087 was 4.25 Acre land allotted Rs. 48,68,751/- by the Government on concessional rates.

The aforesaid action on the part of the school is totally illegal, unjust, arbitrary and unconstitutional, contrary to the provision of Delhi school Education Act, 1973.

The parent has several times approached to the Deputy Director of Education (West), but unfortunately, the Deputy Director of Education has also not done anything in this matter.

It needs to be mentioned that S.S. Mota Singh Sr. Sec. School is one of the many schools in Delhi which have been provided government land at concessional rate on the condition that they will provide free education to the Economically Weaker Sections.

We have right to know under Right to Information Act following questions.
Do they respect the Constitution of India?
Do they respect the Constitutional Basic, Fundamental child Rights?
Do they consider themselves above The Constitution of India?

It is very transparent and clean violation of constitutional child rights guaranteed by Constitution of India. It is just creating terrible nuisance to the girl student Bhumika.

Now, If immediate action is not taken against the above school by the Directorate of Education then we will be left with no option but to hold a peaceful Protest Demonstration by group of parents and volunteers of Gyan Lakshay (NGO) whole day in front of your office on Monday 23 July 2012 at 10.00 a.m. for the well-being of baby Bhumika.

It is, therefore, requested that you may please intervene in this matter on urgent basis and direct the principal/management of S.S. Mota Singh Sr. Sec. School, Guru Harkishan Nagar, New Delhi-110087 to allow her continue class forthwith so that the whole year of the girl student should not be wasted.
Thanking you,
Sincerely
(Secretary)
Gyan Lakshay (NGO)