A quite relevant and topical article has just appeared in Republica newspaper in Nepal. Entitled Caste System and Pedagogy it describes the roots and history of the case system and attempts to debunk a lot of the popular beliefs about it being rooted in the Hindu religion.
"The Caste system is interpreted as having been validated by the Hindu religion and scriptures. Fundamentalists have it that caste is in religion. But none of the Hindu scriptures seem to have stood for this system. In Ramayana lord Rama advocates the end of discrimination by taking bayar (jujube fruit) from Saubari, a woman ostracized by the sages for being untouchable and who then lives in isolation at the edge of a forest, and by liberating her. And in Bhagwat Gita Lord Krishna ordains that “elephant, cow, dogs, and Brahmins are the same for a wise man,” thus, speaking against discrimination. School education of this era must teach such realities and history to its children. And the products of this education will hopefully be able to eliminate caste based discrimination."
The article goes on to assert that there is a distinct lack of teaching about the caste system in Nepal's education curriculum which he believes is perpetuating the system to the advantage of Brahmins and Chettris for example and to the detriment of Dalits in particular. We would tend to agree with this and are trying to do something about it but at times it is a lonely battle. For example we have no influence whatsoever on the curriculum and it would be wrong of us to try and manipulate it in individual schools. But there may be a way! The government has just introduced "values" as a curriculum topic and we intend to introduce the technique of P4C to 120 teachers from 6 Dalit community schools in April. It shouldn't be too difficult to have groups of teachers and children discussing diversity and discrimination for example in philosophy based sessions.
If you agree then please post a comment below.
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