HYDERABAD: CASTE-based discrimination is very much prevalent and even university-educated youngsters face discrimination based on their caste identity, revealed a recent study from Hyderabad.
The findings of the study, published in latest edition of Journal of Psychosocial Research, gain significance in the wake of the Justice AK Roopanwal commission’s report being made public.
The one-man panel appointed by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development dismissed allegations that caste discrimination had played a role in the suicide of University of Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula in 2016.
The study was conducted by Dr Swati Agarwal, assistant professor at the psychology department of St Francis College for Women in Hyderabad, with her colleague Moola Priyanka. It was aimed at identifying caste discrimination as perceived by students from scheduled caste (SC) communities, both within and outside of universities. The sample comprised 200 undergraduate and postgraduate SC students at Hyderabad-based universities.
A questionnaire was administered to 100 men and women each. Seventeen questions gauged discrimination, as perceived by students, to which answers had to be given on a scale of one to five. Thus, the test had a score ranging from 17-85.
The study found that the mean score among men was around 34 whereas among women it was almost 36, showing that the students had experienced caste discrimination. It could also mean that in every aspect of discrimination, explored by the questionnaire, students had said yes to having faced discrimination. “It was necessary to know ‘perceived caste discrimination’ as many times people’s actions or words, whether purposefully or inadvertently, make a person feel discriminated.
The test results give an idea of the degree of discrimination and its prevalence among the university-going students,” Dr Agarwal said. “Universities need to take proactive role in addressing caste discrimination and can play a major role in bringing about change. The present measures in varsities amount merely towards grievance redressal.
Interventions like forming small support groups, mentorship programmes, wherein senior students from marginalised communities mentor groups of freshers from same communities, regular activities to develop connections among students and remove stereotypes are required. Students belonging to marginalised communities can perform better in a discrimination-free environment,” she said.