Mainstream WeeklyKeywords: Dalits, Education, Affordability, Exclusion, Marginalization, and Suicides.
The Indian social system has been largely influenced by thoughts and perceptions of the Varna or caste system. Higher education provides a window of opportunity to Dalits who for thousands of years have lived in a culture of oppressive silence. Generally, Dalits lack the resources to enter the portals of good higher educational institutions, their problems are compounded as most of them are first-generation learners coming from socially, economically and politically oppressed backgrounds. Most of them opt to study in government-run institutions due to affordability factors as well as the ease of access. The education of Dalits was the utmost priority of the architect of India