Links: education
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Scholarship eludes Dalit students (The Hindu)
Watch: Teacher thrashing boy mercilessly in Karnataka (Zee News)
Dalits and education in Bangladesh – briefing note (BDERM)
Mahadalit children driven out of school in Biharsharif (Times of India)
Are we still in dark age? Children of cobblers treated like dirt (The Daily Star – Bangladesh)
IDSN NOTE on UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report
Dalit Children in Bangladesh (Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2015)
The report examines the current situation of Dalit children and provides information about the implementation gaps in the enforcement of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and makes recommendations for the Committee’s examination. The observations are based on independent studies and reports, case documentation, and recommendations by other UN human rights bodies.
Dalits students forced to eat separately | The Asian Age
Millions of Indian children are being denied school education due to discrimination (Scroll.in by Jayshree Bajoria – Human Rights Watch)
Are we still in dark age? Children of cobblers treated like dirt in Magura school (Parittran)
Ten-year-olds are made to clean their school toilets by the teachers. The elders in their families cannot have tea at local stalls or a haircut at the barber’s, and they are not invited to any social event. All these because they are from a caste considered low in the local Hindu community.
Dalit brothers, who cracked IIT, were tormented for their caste
Scheduled Caste Children in Pakistan (IDSN and PDSN July 2015 alternative report for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2015)
The alternative report on scheduled caste children in Pakistan is written by the Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network (PDSN) and the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) and submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for the 72nd Pre-sessional Working Group session (5-9 October 2015) and the review of Pakistan at the 72nd Working Group session (6 May-3 June 2016). The report examines the current situation of scheduled caste (Dalit) children and provides information about the implementation gaps in the enforcement of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and makes recommendations for the Committee’s examination. The observations are based on independent studies and reports, case documentation, and recommendations by other UN human rights bodies.
How the Right to Education is failing the very children it was meant to benefit (Scrool.in)
More than 75% of those out of schools are either Dalits, Adivasis or Muslims.Over 32% of those out of schools are Dalits and over 16% belong to the Adivasi communities. On further bifurcation, 3.24% of all Scheduled Castes and over 4% of all Scheduled Tribes children are out of school nationwide. This divide gets even bigger in the eastern region where more than 6.78% of ST children are out of school and in Odisha the figure is a whopping 14.81%.
Diluting India’s child labour law will trap families in cycle of poverty (Op-ed in The Guardian – by IDSN and DNN)
An amendment to the act that was set to make child labour illegal will push millions of marginalised children in India into work rather than education
Shame! Dalit girl set on fire for pursuing education (Yahoo News India)
As per the victim’s statement to the police, the student was alone in her hut and cooking food when the accused— Dhiraj Yadav, his brothers Arvind and Dinesh, and their father Ram Pravesh Yadav— barged in, dragged her out, poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. “They didn’t like that I was pursuing my education because they were failing in school every year. A few months ago, Dhiraj somehow got a photograph of me and tried to blackmail me. A major altercation broke out between our families on the issue,” she was quoted as saying to the police in the community health centre. The victim was admitted with 70 per cent burn injuries.
Combatting the Vicious Circle of Child Rights Violation (The New Indian Express)
With widespread caste discrimination and branding of communities, the effect on the rights of children can be seen in instances across the country — Dalit children being made to sweep classrooms and clean toilets at schools, eat separately and face neglect. The constant branding by teachers and classmates as the ‘other’, besides affecting the psyche of the child has been shown to increase the number of dropouts and the cycle goes on — child labour, drug abuse, alcoholism and crime. The issue of child rights is universal but the discrimination is more in India because of the socio-religious philosophy that facilitates discrimination on the basis of caste, believes social activist Vasanthi Devi, former chairperson, Institute for Human Rights Education. “Dalit children have special needs and this is not accepted by most people. Children in schools face the same issues the adults of the caste face, ” said N Thayalan, director of Human Resource Development Foundation (HRDF). Pallar, Paraiyar, and Arunthathiyar are the major Dalit groups in the State. A 2010 survey was conducted among 200 Arunthathiyar families, the group engaged in manual scavenging and considered lowest, the ‘Dalits among Dalits’. This survey conducted by the Arunthathiyar Human Rights Forum revealed that 24 per cent of children dropped out from schools, starting from Class 1 and reaching a maximum at Class 8. The top reason given by students for dropping out was slow learning followed by peer group influence, family incompetence, teachers’ attitude and a difficult syllabus.
Budget cuts push Dalits out of education (The Hindu)
Video: Nepal’s Dalits face caste discrimination (Al Jazeera, 2015)
Despite caste based discrimination being illegal in Nepal, it continues to affect the country's 'untouchables'.
Leading Dalit activists arrested for protesting massive cuts in budgets meant for Dalits
Dalit leader Paul Divakar and 29 other activists were arrested following a peaceful gathering of over 500 students gathered in front of the Indian parliament to protests severe cuts to budgets allocated to Dalit and Adivasi (Tribals) welfare and upholding of their rights. The arrests underscore a deeply concerning trend for Government stifling of voices of dissent in India.