All participants in the “Teachers for Global Classrooms” program had to develop an “essential question.” My essential question has evolved from “how have the weaker economic classes (also known as “dalits”, at one time “untouchables”) used education for advancement, to “how have class systems affected educational opportunities?” I basically changed it from focusing on one class to focusing on the educational system for all classes in order to remain neutral and view the entire educational systems. The point is to examine if class systems have positive or negative effects on educational opportunities or outcomes.
Reading the book entitled “Untouchables” by Narendra Jadhav had to be God ordained to help me understand the foundation of my original question concerning the weaker economic classes. The parallels to America, are amazing to me, this leads my interest in the development of my question. This book shows, by following the life of a defiant dalit, the inhumane treatment of the dalit class in the Hindu religion, and the leadership of “Babasaheb.” Amazingly, it is he who reminds me of Martin Luther King, Jr; – he fought for the human rights of the dalit class within the Hindu religion (even though all Hindus worshipped the same gods, dalits were not allowed in temples, amongst other inhuman treatments). I kept saying “why is it we never heard of him in school?” (as Teachers or students). We know that Ghandi influenced MLK because of non-violence in his quest for independence from Britain, but Babasaheb fought for the dalits through protests – as did MLK for African-Americans in America.
Babasaheb studied in America, and was influenced by the 14th amendment. This fueled his quest as a social reformer, he was a hero to hundreds of thousands of people in the under class of India. Most importantly, as it relates to my essential question, it is Babasaheb who called for the dalits to achieve respect and dignity through education. He declared that this would deliver the dalits to their rightful place in society. This is an theory that all lower income people should take heed to, whether in India, America, or any other society in the world.
As an update, I was thrilled to see a huge statue of Dr Babasaheb upon arrival to Nagpur airport! This was his native land and there were many more statues of him in many of the places I visited. I am so glad that I read this book because it gave me the background needed to appreciate the honors bestowed upon him in his homeland.
