Multilevel Exclusion of Dalit Students in Professional Elite Colleges of India

Abstract

The study traces some exclusionary practices of dalit students in professional elite institutions at multiple levels: admission, pedagogy, classroom ecology and learning approach. Unfortunately, the professional elite institutions in India reinforce and maintain a divide between dalits and non-dalits. They devise mechanisms to restrict entry of dalit students at various levels. The pedagogy not only unconsciously reinforces exclusionary practices but offers many promises of reducing caste inequality in the campus. The pedagogy is further compounded by classroom proceedings. This inquiry gives another angle to understand exclusionary practices in the classroom of professional institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Dalit students as second generation of learners adopt either a strategic learning style or a surface learning style. Professional elite colleges in India have both an innovative as well as democratic classroom ecology. Similarly, teacher-centric and student-centric processes facilitate the process of learning.