On 20th January, news broke out about the proposals central government is considering to set up 150 Ambedkar Navodaya Vidyalaya as on the lines of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) for scheduled caste (SC) students.

As a Dalit and a former JNV student, this is very personal to me. It pushed me to think about my school days and about my school in particular. I was thinking about those 7 years, the time I spent, the impact it has one me as an educational institution or I should say, the way it moulded me as a person. But I will come to that later.

First, let me tell you a little bit about these schools, JNVs. There are 636 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country, run by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti which directly comes under the Ministry of HRD. The National Policy on education 1986 envisaged the setting up of residential schools, to be called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. It talks about the vision ‘to bring out the best of rural talent’ by making provision of at least 75% for rural children. Seats are reserved for children from SC and ST communities in proportion to their population in the district but not less than the national average. One-third of the seats are filled by girl students. 3% of the seats are for disabled children.

These institutions are doing well in keeping its vision in providing opportunities to rural children to progress faster by making good quality education available for them irrespective of their capacity to pay for it. JNVs are renowned for their affordable (almost free) good quality education. Since the past few years, JNVs are in the news for doing great in the board results.

Now that the BJP led government considering to set up 150 Ambedkar Navodaya Vidyalayas in districts with high Dalit populations. Many academic scholars seeing this move with suspicion. I find this idea very regressive, outdated and immoral. I have many questions about it, will these 150 Ambedkar Navodaya schools be sufficient to provide good quality education to Dalits across India? What about the Dalit students from the districts which will not be included in 150? By doing so, are we going to intensify the existing educational inequality? What are we doing to address the existing caste (hierarchical) system that this state has created over the years? Why we don’t talk about providing affordable good quality education for all? Are we not living in a socialist country?

Is it too much to ask for affordable good quality education for all? If it is the case and government still wants to consider for setting up exclusive Dalits only schools then let’s discuss where it is heading.

School segregation is not a new thing this government wants to try. It is ‘tried and tested’ and failed phenomenon. In the US till 1954, public schools were racially segregated. It was legal on the basis of the doctrine “separate but equal” which was far away from the reality that time. In 1954, by the judgement of a landmark case in US supreme court, Brown v Board of Education, racially segregated schools were declared unconstitutional. In the judgement, Warren wrote that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place as segregated schools are inherently unequal”. The example is in front of us, we should learn from this. This is not a healthy idea, it is morally wrong to segregate schools on the basis of caste. This case is very applicable to for our society which is highly divided.

It is evident that students from marginalized communities have to go through caste-based discrimination, a humiliation in educational institutions. Talking about JNV, The Indian Express published a report citing, out of 49 suicides in 5 years half of them are Dalit, tribal students. (Ministry set ups panel, asks for two counsellors in each school)

If anybody thinks that having exclusive Dalit school will solve the problem of institutional discrimination, then he/she is wrong. What about the teachers, faculty members? Are they going to appoint all the teachers from the Dalit community? No, they will not do that. So what’s the point? I want to quote Pardeep Attri here, from his article ‘why I oppose Telangana government’s plan for Dalit only University‘, though I don’t fully agree to this statement, but he is making a valid point, “I would support any such Dalits only university if the full control is in the hands of Dalits, otherwise I don’t think the Dalits only university would be any different from any other university”.

The third point I want to make here is that how this exclusive Dalits only school will affect the self-esteem of the students who will be studying in that school? As we know most of the Dalits are 1st/2nd generation learners, because of the social system they live in, many Dalit students develop a sense of inferiority in them. Imagine what a Dalit student from such segregated school will be thinking about the students from any other inclusive school, like JNV? His/her sense of inferiority will deepen because of it. Why do we want to create educational ghettos?

I want to take this opportunity to talk about my personal journey as a Dalit in two (from VI to X std in JNV Yavatmal, XI to XII in JNV Solapur, Maharashtra)  of such JNVs. I’m a second generation learner, my father was 12th class failed farmer. He passed away when I was in my fifth standard. My mother had to sell our 4 acres of land and become landless labourer to survive and educate her three children. Thankfully I was selected for JNV Yavatmal in 6th std. When I went there in 2003, it was the best thing that happened to me. Beautiful classrooms, new books, notebooks, good food, big playground, readymade uniform, Bata shoes, English speaking teachers, I got everything that I had not even seen or heard of.

As a kid, in that age, I never saw open caste-based discrimination in my school, even I had not seen that bold caste consciousness in my seniors. Teachers and faculty members had diversity, the majority of them were from so-called upper castes, not surprising.

I was aware of my caste identity, but it never affected me in that sense. It was not easy though, for me, coming from such background and in addition to it, I’m physically disabled. I had to go through harsh bullying and ragging. That really affected me and has a very negative impact on me. In my early two years there I was very bad in my studies. After all, that ragging and bullying stopped my grades substantially improved. I started to enjoy the process of learning.

When I look back to my school days, I feel satisfied and privileged. It was the best school for me that I could afford. I had good quality education available for me. How many Dalits can say that? I was from a poor family but this institution prevented me from the heat of poverty. Learnt English. It made me a person I am today. The purpose behind telling my personal journey is to explain what good, affordable education means to the Dalit like me. Not only behind every successful Dalit there is a story worth telling, but also behind every unsuccessful Dalit, there will be a story worth listening.

Lastly, remember the first voice of revolt always comes from the oppressed. This move of setting up Ambedkar Navodaya Vidyalayas is nothing but appeasement politics. Every established government/parties want to control and appease Dalits. The treatment they want to provide is more toxic than the disease itself. Instead, we should demand more inclusive, good quality affordable educational institutions.

“The paradox of education is precisely this that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”- James Baldwin.

Author – Prashant Bhaware, 26/1/2020