New Delhi, April 22/Nationalturk- The international human rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its report released on Tuesday disclosed that school authorities in India persistently discriminate against children from marginalized communities, denying them their right to education.
In its 77-page report, “‘They Say We’re Dirty’: Denying an Education to India’s Marginalized,” HRW has documented discrimination by school authorities in four Indian states — of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi — against Dalit, tribal, and Muslim children.
The report discloses that discrimination creates an unwelcome atmosphere that can lead to truancy and eventually may lead the child to stop going to school. “Weak monitoring mechanisms fail to identify and track children who attend school irregularly, are at risk of dropping out, or have dropped out”.
“India’s immense project to educate all its children risks falling victim to deeply rooted discrimination by teachers and other school staff against the poor and marginalized,” said Jayshree Bajoria, India researcher and author of the report.
‘Teachers neglect, mistreat children’
The report said instead of encouraging children from at-risk communities who are often the first in their families to ever step inside a classroom, teachers often neglect or even mistreat them.”
According to Indian government, nearly half – over 80 million children – drop out before completing their elementary education. In drafting the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, Indian government recognized exclusion of children as the “single most important challenge in universalizing elementary education.”
“However, many education department officials at state, district, and local levels have been unwilling to acknowledge or accept that discrimination occurs in government schools, let alone attempt to resolve these problems,” HRW report said.
‘Children from Muslims, Dalits insulted’
It stated that marginalized groups continue to face discrimination in India despite constitutional guarantees and laws prohibiting discrimination. “School authorities reinforce age-old discriminatory attitudes based on caste, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Children from Dalit, tribal, and Muslim communities are often made to sit at the back of the class or in separate rooms, insulted by the use of derogatory names, denied leadership roles, and served food last. They are even told to clean toilets, while children from traditionally privileged groups are not.”
The HRW asked Indian government to adopt more effective measures to monitor the treatment of vulnerable children and provide accessible redress mechanisms to ensure they remain in the classroom.
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Asia News/ NationalTurk India News
