On 10/22/09, Mari Marcel Thekaekara <marimarcelt@gmail.com> wrote:
best wishes,
mari
'... Throughout Gujarat, Balmiki children in government schools are
arbitrarily pulled out of class for menial jobs... All these kids work
for a pittance, cleaning manure pits, dragging dead animals, helping
their parents to sweep streets, mop floors, clear garbage, clean
toilets. In schools they are forced to do this for free. In the
evenings the children accompany their parents to collect leftovers
from the homes their mothers work in. It's known as 'baasi' or stale
food. ...'
Gujarat: dalit children
Manu Over Ambedkar: Gujarat's Balmiki kids face daily humiliations in
school and village
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262319
Mari Marcel Thekaekara
Our Kids, Their Kids
* Children of safai karmacharis in Gujarat are forced by teachers to
clean toilets and mop floors in school
* They are abused and beaten if they refuse to do the menial tasks
* Treated as untouchables and kept at arm's length by upper caste students
* In some areas, they are not even allowed to drink from a common
source of water
* Reports of their notebooks never being corrected since teachers
don't like to handle their books
***
They had, it seems, come from all corners of Gujarat. From Gandhinagar
to tribal Panchmahals, from Porbandar on the western coast to the
Dangs at its southern tip. The children arrived at the Mahatma's
Sabarmati ashram, lining up solemnly in their new Gandhi caps. At the
gates, they were welcomed with handwoven cotton thread malas by
elderly Gandhian leaders.
They were children of safai karamcharis, Balmiki kids used to watching
their parents sweep public streets and private homes and clean filthy
toilets. The children were at the ashram to share their 'experiences'
with a fact-finding panel, tales of being forced to clean toilets and
mop floors in school, of horrific discrimination by their upper-caste
schoolmates and teachers. They came to the podium in line, district by
district, took the mike to tell their stories. Matter of fact, stating
the facts somewhat baldly. There was no wallowing in pity, in 'vibrant
Gujarat' this was how life was for them.
Pooja, a fifth standard student, says they are not even allowed to
take water from the drinking water matka: 'The kids from the 'upper'
castes blow air and do 'phoo phoo' to cleanse themselves if we touch
them by mistake. Or they sprinkle water on the spot we touch.... The
teachers don't want to touch our homework books. So they are never
corrected. I clean the toilets. I have to. Because the teacher tells
us to do it. We are Bhangis. No one in school would like to be friends
with us. They say 'Hey Bhangi door bes, (sit far away)'.'
Prakash, from Mohua taluka of Kheda district, is in the seventh
standard. 'I clean toilets in school.' Why do you do this? the panel
asks him. He looks puzzled, it's obviously a stupid question. 'Because
the teacher tells me to....' Why do you obey him'? Wasn't it obvious?
'Because I'll get a beating if I don't obey.' What do you want to be
when you grow up? the panel asks. 'A teacher.' Why a teacher? Because
I want a life of dignity' Prakash replies shyly.
Aarti, in the seventh standard and studies in a Girls High School in
Patan district. 'I clean the classroom and the toilets three times a
week.' Why do you do this? Because the principal asks us to do it, she
replies. How does he know you are a Balmiki? 'From my name. If we say
we don't want to clean toilets, they beat us.' Three Balmiki girls,
Sangeeta, Raksha and Daksha, were beaten because they didn't want to
clean the toilets.
In the schools, the pattern is almost always the same. The teacher or
principal asks all the Bhangi children to stand up. Then they are
allotted the toilet cleaning duties.
Rahul is an unusual name for a Balmiki kid. He disposes of dead
animals for Rs 10. He also cleans the toilets and urinals at school.
Have you heard of Rahul Gandhi, someone inevitably asks. No, he
replies. Didn't you see him on TV during the elections? 'I don't think
so.'
Jayesh, in the 10th, is sharply turned out. Maroon shirt, cream
trousers, hair smartly cut. A mobile peeps out of his pocket. It's
hard to believe that the lad regularly mucks about in manholes to earn
some extra money. But he dreams of doing a BBA, getting a job in an
office. 'If I pass my BBA and get a job, I will never do this work
again' he declares.
The public hearing involving some 1,000 Balmiki children was held
before a panel comprising former acting chief justice of Gujarat R.A.
Mehta, Sabarmati Ashram secretary Amrut Modi, former member of the
National Commission for Safai Karmacharis Ishwarbhai Patel, Gujarati
political scientist Professor Ghanshyam Shah and Dalit leader Martin
Macwan.
At the hearing, findings from a study conducted in 12 districts of
Gujarat by the Navsarjan Trust, a Gujarat-based ngo working for Dalit
rights, was shared. The object of the survey was to highlight the
children's plight and bring it to the notice of the government, the
public and the courts. Later, principal secretary, state education
department, Hasmukh Adhia, provided a somewhat cryptic soundbite, 'If
such cases of discrimination are brought to our notice, we will put
the children in main schools.'
The strange fact is these children are just the tip of the iceberg.
And in a state which has supposedly won governance awards and
corporate seals of approval. It is now even the home of the Nano. All
these kids work for a pittance, cleaning manure pits, dragging dead
animals, helping their parents to sweep streets, mop floors, clear
garbage, clean toilets. In schools they are forced to do this for
free. In the evenings the children accompany their parents to collect
leftovers from the homes their mothers work in. It's known as 'baasi'
or stale food. Mulk Raj Anand described it graphicaly in his 1935
novel, Untouchable. Seven decades on, it's almost as if time has stood
still. Their situation remains the same. Vile, degrading, a disgrace
to humanity.
The children are bullied in their villages as well as at school. If
the sarpanch or an upper-caste person orders them to do a job, they
cannot refuse. If the 'malik' is kindly disposed, he may give the
child ten rupees, twenty if he's magnanimous. But the caste system
brooks no dispute. 'If they don't do these jobs, who will?' is the
genuinely astonished refrain in many villages. Feudal India has not
changed in spite of Independence, an egalitarian Constitution and
sixty years of laws against untouchability.
Throughout Gujarat, Balmiki children in government schools are
arbitrarily pulled out of class for menial jobs. Surprisingly, in most
instances, the authorities feel no wrong has been done. No one
mentions a certain 1989 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes
Prevention of Atrocities Act, which says offenders can be jailed for
mistreating Dalit children. The only way to stop the victimisation is
if stringent action is initiated against the perpetrators. Rather late
in the day, but Dalit organisations have arrived at a point where
petitions are filed braving the wrath of the many power brokers of
society.
Professor Ghanshyam Shah, a panellist at the camp, feels 'the courts
should take up the children's statements on a suo motu basis'..
Justice Mehta too agrees that this is 'definitely a case for the
Gujarat courts'. So, will the heads of errant officials roll? Will the
courts take action? Or will these abhorrent practices continue for
another 50 years?
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Pl Read:
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